The Revelation of The Other Woman
by tiffini42112
Summary: Having lost her family in the King County hospital, Joanna Jacobs stumbles upon a man in a coma. Having more morals about herself than to leave a man for dead, she stays by his side and cares for him. Not meaning to, they fall for each other, but what happens when they find his wife and son? Rick/Oc Daryl/Oc.(Love Triangle. The Oc is not with both men at the same time.)
1. Chapter 1: In the blink of an eye

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the walking dead or any of it's characters. I do, however, own my character.

 **The Revelation of the Other Woman**

 **Chapter One:** In the blink of an eye.

It happened in the blink of an eye. One moment I was having a panic attack and the next I was making out a man that I had only known for a few days. And that's how I ended up in a fist fight with a woman while the whole camp watched. Oh…wait, I've skipped a lot of stuff. So let me take you back to the moment I knew life as I knew it was truly one-hundred percent o.v.e.r.

* * *

People were crying and screaming in the hallways outside while I sat between my mother and sister who both lay in bed. My sister had been bitten on her shoulder by a man in the street. My mother was bitten by that same man in the process of pulling him off my sister. After developing a high fever they called me and told me they were going to the hospital.

Since being admitted, nothing had been done to successfully lower their fever and they had only gotten worse. Every move they made caused them to scream out in pain. I sat in a chair between their beds holding both of their hot hands as I tried to work the knots out of my stomach. Things were not looking good. Hundreds of people had been pouring into the hospital all with the same symptoms as my mom and my sister. Rumor was that people that were bitten by crazy people died from whatever disease they were given and came back as one of them. I was worried that they were going to die. My mother was going to die and my sister was one step behind.

"Joe…" My mom whispered, making me take my eyes off of the floor to look at her. "I'm dying…I can feel it."

With tears in my eyes I turned to my mother and grabbed her hot hand in both of mine. "Don't talk like that. You're goin' to be fine." I choked out holding back the tears that threatened to fall.

"No…Joe, listen to me." She breathed quietly. "I love you." her proclamation made the tears start slipping down my cheeks as I told her I loved her too. "You need to stay safe and don't get bitten. Whatever happens…stay safe…don't look back…" her eyes started to slip shut and panic thumped in my chest like a herd of elephants, "always…keep-" her eyes slid completely shut and a tidal wave of sobs shook my body as I fell forward onto her unmoving stomach.

Her heart monitor flat lined, the sound ringing my ears. When the ringing doubled I turned to see that my sister's hand now hung limply off of the bed and her head hung to the side. "No, no, no." I cried as I fell to the floor between the beds, resting my forehead on the cold tile floor. One arm was wrapped around my aching stomach while the other held my chest.

My attention was pulled elsewhere however when what sounded like machine guns started going off in the halls. What was gunfire doing in a hospital? The sound started getting closer along with the sound of men. Men with authoritative voices who, from the sounds of it, were kicking in doors and demanding people stand against the wall. I was still doubled over on the floor as I listened to them talking. "I don't care if these people are sick or not. We all have orders, follow them!" a man yelled and I jumped as guns started going off.

I screamed as a bullet zipped by my head. If they caught me, they'd kill me. I was a fast enough thinker to know that. So I scrambled to my feet and looked around me for somewhere to hide. I looked under the bed, but it was full of wires, gears and bars. The only other option was the little closet attached to a chest of drawers with a mirror over it. So I scrambled over to it and squeezed myself into the tiny two foot wide space.

I had just managed to shut the door when I heard the door to the room get kicked open. Two single shots rang out before I heard the bathroom door be kicked in. "Clear!" I heard a man yell before the door was slammed shut and they moved on. Even thought the door was closed I still didn't come out of hiding. I couldn't because I couldn't move. My body shook, practically vibrating in fear.

My family had just taken their last breaths and people were being gunned down in the hallways. What was I supposed to be doing? I didn't know the answer, so I stayed there until the panic attack I was having eased up and the halls outside were quiet.

It was only then that I pushed the narrow closet door open and stepped out into the room. My mother and sister were still in their beds as they had been before, but now there was a bullet hole in the middle of their foreheads. As I looked at them, more tears spilled over, washing away the dried streaks of previous ones. They were gone. Just minutes ago I had been holding their warm hands and now they lay dead…cold as ice.

An uncontrollable wave of nausea overcame me and I ran to the bathroom to puke up the grapefruit I had eaten for breakfast. When I was done I rinsed my mouth out and went back into the room with my dead mother and sister. I walked over to my sister and picked up her cold clamy hand in mine as tears slid down my cheeks. "Sammy…" I cried my nickname for her as I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it. "I…I don't know what to do." I said as I looked from her to my mother.

Her last words to me bounced around in my head, answering the question I just asked my sister. "Don't look back, always keep looking forward." It's what she told me when I was little and I would make a regrettable mistake. "Forgive yourself, don't forget, but don't look back. Just always keep looking forward." It got shortened as I grew older.

"But how do I keep looking forward when there is no forward?" I asked myself with tears in my eyes. In an attempt to figure it out I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself, but it only helped a little. The first thing I had to do was get out of this building. I didn't want to, I didn't want to leave my family behind without a proper burial, but I had to. I told myself at the time that I could come back when things settled down and see to it that they were buried in the family cemetery, but I know now that that will never happen.

So I went to the door and pushed it open just a crack. What I saw on the other side will forever be engraved into my head. Bodies littered to grey tile floor that was coated in a layer of different red tones of blood. Telling myself that I had no other choice, I stepped out into the hallway. The first body I came upon was a dead swat team member. His helmet was missing and there was a hole in his forehead. His gun was in his cold hand so I took it and the green bag that was over his shoulder before I slipped back into the hospital room.

"Okay…I just robbed a dead man…but it's okay… I had to do it." I told myself before I held up the gun in my hands "I can figure this thing out…" I whispered as I looked the weapon over. "How different can it be from my little pistol?" I asked no one in particular. I checked the clip or was it called a magazine? I couldn't remember, but whatever it was called was half full so I looked in the bag to see if there were any more bullets in there. There were a few left so I used them to fill the clip up the rest of the way then put it back in the gun. As I continued to look the gun over I found the safety then got to know the rest of it. I hoped I wouldn't have to use it, but if I ran into anything or anyone that tried to stand in my way of getting out then I would.

Now that I had protection I stepped back outside the room. But as I looked down at the swat team member, giving him a silent thanks for the gun, my eyes took in his armor. My mother's words "Don't get bit." bounced around in my head. His armor could help prevent that. So with a queasy stomach and a heavy heart I grabbed his hands and pulled him into the room, shutting the door when I was done.

"I'm sorry." I told him as I took off every piece of his gear and placed it on myself. When I was done, I checked myself in the full length mirror in the bathroom. The black armor looked weird over my hot pink tank top and black yoga pants, but it would keep me safe from the ever chomping teeth of the crazies. I looked around me, trying to think if there was anything else I needed to grab before I ventured out into the dangerous halls. First my eyes landed on the bag I had taken from the swat team member and I threw it over my shoulder then took my wallet, keys and cell phone into the bag. Then my eyes landed on my mother and the locket that had always hung around her neck. With a shaking hand and a heavy heart I took it off of her and placed it around my neck.

With one final look back at my family I pushed the door open and ventured slowly out into the hallway. I had to force myself not to look at the bodies of the people that were resting against the wall with multiple holes in their heads as I walked down the hall. I glanced at the nurses' station and the big red letters that spelled out South Wing Intensive Care Ward, as I walked by it and down the hall to the elevators. I had just pushed the down button when the whole building shook. Ceiling tiles fell from above me and I ducked down, covering my head with my armored arms. The lights started flickering as the building stopped shaking and the smell of smoke filled my nose.

"Did they just bomb the freakin' hospital?" I asked myself as I stood up straight and opted for the stairs now that the electricity was now unreliable. I was almost to the last floor when another explosion went off and the building shook. The bottom of the stairwell collapsed, blocking the way out. "Shit." I cursed as I scrambled backwards up the stairs to avoid getting hit by rubble. With no other option I went through the door that led to the second floor.

This floor looked a lot less bloody than the third floor that I was on did and I walked down it hoping to find another way out or maybe even someone to help me. But as I walked down the hall I realized this hospital truly was a ghost town now. The place was dead silent, except for a heart monitor that was beeping a few doors down from where I stood at the nurse's station. I ignored the sound and started looking for a map or anything that would help my find my way out of here. I hated hospitals. They were always so damn confusing.

But as I looked for a map, the beeping started to get on my nerves. So with all intentions of just shutting the machine off I headed to the room. There was a bed, slid in front of the door and I kicked it aside then pushed the door open. Without looking around the room much I walked over to the machine. I was about to pull the plug when I saw that there was a man lying in the bed.

I stopped as it now registered that the beeping of the machine meant that it was attached to a live person. The man in the bed looked pale and sweaty, but his breathing was steady. As I looked between him and the open door to the room I contemplated just leaving him there and finding a way out of the hospital while I still could. I had decided that he wasn't my problem and that I should get out while I could and headed over to the door, but a raspy breath from him made me look back.

He was alive, alone and if he hadn't been woken up by the blasting and gunfire that had been going on around him then my guess was that he was either in a coma or deaf. "Son-of-a-bitch." I sighed as I plucked his chart out of the holder on the door then pushed it shut. I walked over to the table in the corner of the room and sat the folder on it then took the bag off of me and sat it down with the gun.

He had a bandage wrapped around his side so to make sure it wasn't a bite I placed my hand on his forehead. He was warm, but not burning up. He didn't have whatever it was that made people turn crazy. That was comforting enough, so I sat down in the chair that was next to the table and began reading his file. I didn't know anything about medical terms, but from what I could make out he was a cop named Rick Grimes who had been shot on the job. If I read the chart right he had been given a medicine that put him in an induced coma.

Somehow the fact that he was a cop made me feel better about the fact that I was helping a random stranger when I could be getting out of this danger trap of a place. Knowing that he was in a coma and couldn't eat and drink for himself, I looked at the bag of fluids that hung on the iv pole. It was almost out. If I didn't find him more, he might become severely dehydrated.

So with a sigh and a new mission in mind I put the bag back over my shoulder and grab the gun. When I left the room I made sure the door was completely shut and pushed the bed back in front of it, just in case. "Okay, there has to be a supply closet or something around here somewhere." I sighed to myself as I looked around then headed to my right, towards the nurse's station. There were a few small refrigerators and cabinets so I rummaged around in them. I managed to find three bags of saline solution so I forgot about finding the supply closet for now. If I could figure out how to control how fast the fluids dripped or waited a while before giving him a new bag three could last a while.

I was about to head back to the room when my stomach gurgled. I hadn't eaten since that morning and the sun was starting to go down. The lunch room was on the first floor, and I didn't have the time to figure out how to get there. So I searched the abandoned floor until I found some vending machines. The lights inside of both of them were out so I grabbed a nearby chair and slammed it into the glass fronts. I hated having to do this, stealing food, but I had no other choice and it didn't look like anyone would care that I was being a vandal. If the cop wanted to arrest me when he woke up…if he woke up, then I would let him.

So with that done I grabbed what I could and stuffed it in the bag until it was full. I wanted to go ahead and eat, but I didn't want to leave the man, Rick, unattended for too long. So I headed back to the room. When I got close I was comforted by the sound of the still beeping heart monitor. Now that I had what I needed, I made myself comfortable in the overstuffed chair that I knew could fold out into a bed if need be.

-Two days later-

I was sitting at the small round table in the corner working a puzzle book when I heard Rick take a few jagged breaths. When I looked up I saw that his eyes were open just a little so I walked cautiously over to him. "Rick?" I asked, but he didn't really look at me. "Rick, I know you don't know who I am, but I'm here to help you." I tried, but his eyes slid shut and he fell back to sleep.

* * *

As the days past I had to venture further and further away from the room to find food for myself and fluids for Rick. So far I hadn't had to use the gun, but the longer I spent in the hospital the more crazies found their way to the recovery wing. I was good at avoiding them and sneaking around them. All I had to do is be quiet, which was easy for my dancers feet to do.

The more I had to sneak around to get supplies, the more I learned about the crazies. Not only did sound attract them, but smell did too. I noticed that the longer I went without showering the less they seemed to smell me and come after me. So one day while I was waiting for Rick to wake up a thought struck me. If they didn't feel the need to eat something that smelled bad, then maybe I could create a crazies repellant. But what smell would repel them the best? The more I thought about it the more I realized that they didn't pay attention to each other, just the living. It was this train of thought that led me to a plan that I hated to do, but I knew could save me in the long run.

There was a nurse at the nurse's station. She was dead and they hadn't touched her, so as sick as I thought my idea was I put on a pair of gloves from the box that hung on the wall and grabbed the metical scissors off of the metal tray that was sitting on Ricks end table and cracked the door open. The coast was clear so I tiptoed out, slid the bed back in front of the door and headed to the dead nurse. My first step was to take her lab coat off and set it aside. Then, with a sigh, a deep breath and a set of shaky hands I raise the pair of scissors above my head and plunged them into her stomach. I did this over and over until her stomach was a bloody bowl of mush and guts. I crawled away from what I had just done and puked the bag of chips I had eaten for lunch up into the corner. I took a moment to catch my breath and wipe my tears before I laid the coat out on the floor with the right side facing up.

My stomach churned again as I dipped my gloved hands into the pit that the woman's stomach had become and cupped the blood in my hands. Some of it dripped onto the floor as I transferred it onto the white coat. I did this over and over until the jacket was coated enough with blood that I was sure it smelled as bad as the crazies that walked the halls.

Now that I was done I picked the coat up and headed back to the room. After making sure the door was latched I headed to the bathroom and hung the blood coated jacket up over the curtain rod to dry.

This jacket aided in me locking up a majority of the crazies into the employees only cafeteria after I raided it. Just in case more living people made their way here, I used a can of spray paint that I had found lying on the floor to paint a warning on the chained doors.

—three weeks after finding Rick.—

I was sitting at the table, working a cross word puzzle when I heard Rick's breathing pattern change and when I looked up at him, I saw that the was awake and staring up at the ceiling. "That vase, that's somethin' special. Fess up. You steel if from your grandma Jean's house?" he asked still looking up at the ceiling and I stood up to greet him. I had thought of a thousand different ways to introduce myself and tell him what had happened to the hospital, but in the moment all of those practiced words left my head. "I hope you left her that spoon collection." He laughed before he started coughing. I took a step closer to him and he looked over at me and asked "Shane?"

"Um…no…" my answer came out sounding more like a question.

"Where's shane?" he asked, looking at me with a confused look on his face as he held his side. The bandages were clean and his side was healing well despite the fact that I hadn't given him any antibiotics. The supply of those were locked up tight in the storage closet and even if I did take the time to find the keys, I wouldn't know what to give him.

"Uh…I don't know. I…I don't know who that is, but my name is-" I started but he interrupted me.

"Are you a nurse?" he asked with a raspy voice.

I shook my head. "No. My name is Joanna Jacobs and I've been looking after you for the past three weeks."

"W…what?" he asked as he blinked at me then tried to sit up.

"Whoa, wait, let me help you." I said as I grabbed his shoulder and helped him sit up. "What do you remember from before you went to sleep?" I asked as I backed off and handed him a bottle of water. "Sorry if you're dehydrated. I pretty much wiped this floor of fluid bags for you and I ran out a week ago." I explained. He just blinked at me then chugged the bottle of water. "So what do you remember?" I asked again.

"Uh, I was shot and I was brought here. It got fuzzy after that, but I remember them doing surgery to remove the bullet." He explained before he finished what little was left in the water bottle. So I held my hand out for it then went to the bathroom and refilled it.

When I walked out he was about to try to stand up so I rushed over to him. "Hey, take it easy." I said as I wrapped my arm around his waist and helped him stand. "You don't remember anything about the…the people eating other people?" I asked and he shook his head. "Then I think there's something you need to see." I said as I started walking in the direction of the window.

"What, the…?" he asked as we peered out the window. The room had a good view of the fallen building s around us. Smoke still rose from some of the larger ones that had been bombed and crazies wandered the streets in what I was calling packs. "What happened?" he asked as he let go of me to lean forward onto the window seal.

"Honestly? I have no freaking clue. All I know is one day everything was fine, then over night more and more people were biting and eating other people and the people that got bitten turned into what I've been calling crazies." I explained badly as crossed my arms over my chest.

"Crazies?" he asked, still looking like he was in shock from seeing the world around him.

"Yeah. After people get bit, they die, but they don't stay dead. They come back and they don't come back human. They come back as something dark and hungry for human flesh." I explained and he stumbled back over to the bed and sat down.

"Has…has my wife come by to see me?" he asked, looking like he was about to cry.

"No, not since I've been here. This place is dead. There's no nurses, no staff, nothing." I said and he looked at me with a tilted head blinking rappidly. "So you have family?" I asked.

He nodded shakily. "My wife, Lorie and my son, Carl. Can I call them, do you have a phone?" he asked.

I shook my head no. "The phone lines are down and cell phones no longer work." I explained and if he wasn't so dehydrated he probably would have been crying. "But I've found you some clothes and if you want, you can get dressed, get some food in you and I'll help you look for them." I suggested, hoping that since I had helped him and kept him alive that he would let me stick with him. He wasn't in good health, but he was a cop, which meant that he was most likely a strong man and could in turn keep me alive out there.

He didn't say anything, but when I handed him some clothes he took them and went to the bathroom to get changed. When he came out, dressed in blue pajama pants and his hospital gown was tied at the neck to make a loose shirt, I handed him a bag of chips and soda. He took them without a word and started eating. "Why are you helping me?" he asked with a flat look at me.

"I couldn't just leave you to die." I said with a shrug then went into the bathroom grabbed the bloody jacket that was now dry and crispy and put it on over my riot gear before I threw the bag with all the food and ammo in it over my shoulder then grabbed the gun.

"What are you doin'?" he asked as he took in my new attire. "Is that blood?" he asked with a look at my jacket.

"I'm getting ready to go out there. It's not pretty and you never know when you'll run into a crazy." I said ignoring his question about the coat. When he finished his chips and soda I nodded to the door. "Are you ready?" I asked and he just nodded. "Okay, then let's go find your wife and kid."

He followed me numbly out of the door holding his side as we went. I had found a way out of the hospital weeks ago, but couldn't bring myself to leave Rick. So that's where I led him, to the stare well that led down and out of the hospital. When we got to the bottom and opened the door bright evening sunlight hit our eyes and we had to take a second to let them adjust. I walked down the metal stairs and onto the concrete before I turned and held my hand out to Rick, helping him down the steps. I started walking, but when I turned back to check on Rick he was staring at the dead bodies that were wrapped in white sheets with fly's buzzing around them.

"Their dead, Rick. They aren't the ones we need to worry about." I said and he looked up at me as if I were being cold. Looking back now it probably looked that way, but I'd had time to get used to the sight of dead bodies, he hadn't. "Come on, we're losing daylight." I said as I jerked my head for him to follow. He followed me until we got to my car and put my key in the door unlocking and opening it for him before I walked around to the drivers side.

"This is your car?" he asked, standing on the other side of my black '67 Chevy Impala.

"Yeah, you got a problem with old cars?" I asked with a small smile and he shook his head no. the shocked look was still on his face, but I assumed that it would be there for a while. I know I probably looked like that for days. On top of what the world had become, waking up to a woman in workout clothes and riot gear probably didn't help. Especially when I put on a bloody lab coat. "Okay then get in and tell me where I'm going." I said with a small smile and a nod down at the car.

He nodded numbly and ducked shakily down into the car. As I cranked it and pulled out of the parking lot he told me where to go. We drove in silence until we turned onto the street he told me to go to. He pointed out his house and I pulled to a stop in front of it. I didn't even have time to kill the car before he was stumbling out of it and running up to his house. I knew, when I saw the door wide open that his family was probably gone. So with a heavy heart I killed the car and took my time walking up to the house. I could hear him calling out for his son and wife and when I heard him crying I stopped. He needed a moment alone, I under stood that, so I stood in the entryway, leaning against the wall. While I let him cry it out, tears of my own slid down my cheeks and fell onto my shirt, hurting for him.

It was only when I heard him whisper, "Is this real?" that I walked around the corner to see him doubled over on his hands and knees touching the floor as if it were a mirage. "Am I here?" he sat up with his hand resting on his head and when he started hitting himself in the head I couldn't help but rush over and try to stop him. "Wake up, wake up." he chanted while I held his wrists to keep him from hitting himself.

"I'm sorry." I whispered as tears still fell down my cheeks.

He just took his hands from mine and walked out onto the porch. I let him go knowing he still needed time alone to grasp what was going on around him. I started looking around the house, hoping to find a clue as to if his family had been killed or if they had tried to evacuate. But I didn't get a chance to get a good look because my attention was pulled outside where I heard a kid yell "Daddy! Daddy!" I ran outside, wondering if Rick had found Carol. Instead when I got onto the porch I saw a little ebony skinned boy holding a shovel while Rick lay on the ground with blood coming out of his mouth.

"No!" I yelled as I ran over and kneeled down next to Rick. "Rick, are you okay?" he didn't answer me and when a gunshot went off behind me I turned to see what looked to be the kids father running over to us.

He pushed the boy back. "Did he say somethin'? I thought I heard him say somethin'?" the man asked the boy.

"He called me Carl" the boy answered.

"Son, you know they don't talk." He scolded before he looked down at Rick then up at me where I had my hand on Rick's chest. "Hey mister, what's that bandage for?" he asked.

Rick tried to pick his hand up and asked "Wha- what?"

"What kind of wound?" Rick just looked at him where the man was holding a gun on him. "You answer me Damn you. What's your wound?" he asked and when Rick just looked at him he pulled back the hammer on the gun. "You answer me or I will kill you."

Rick passed out and he turned the gun on me. "Please, he was shot. He wasn't bitten I swear it." I said with one hand on Rick's slow moving stomach and another held up in the air. "Please don't shoot us?" I asked, but the man just kept the gun on me.

"Son, go get the rope out of the house." He instructed and the little boy ran off. "Get up." he demanded and I hesitantly took my hand off of Rick and stood up. When the little boy got back he handed his father a loop of rope. "Put your hands together and don't try anything stupid." Seeing as how I forgot my gun in the car, I had no other option, but to put my hands together and let him tie them together. "Son," he said getting the boys attention and he stepped up to look at his father, "You keep an eye on him. I'll be right back. Yell if you need me." he said before he walked around me and put the gun to my back, ushering me into the house next door.

He took me to a bedroom where he tied me to a headboard then left. A few minutes later he came back with Rick draped across his arms. He laid him on the bed before he used what was left of the rope to tie Rick's hands to the headboard.

It was night fall by the time Rick woke up. The little boy, who's name I had learned was Dwayne was watching us with a baseball bat in his hands while the man, Morgan, washed up from changing Rick's bandage even though I told him I had just changed it the day before. "I changed that bandage." Morgan announced to Rick when he saw that he was awake. "What was it, the wound?" he asked Rick.

I rolled my eyes. "I already told you he was shot." I said and Rick looked over at me where I sat between him and Dwayne.

"She tellin' the truth?" Morgan asked and Rick looked back at him.

Rick nodded. "Yeah, she's tellin' the truth."

"What else, anything?" Morgan asked.

"Gunshot ain't enough?" Rick asked.

Morgan finished drying his hands as he walked over to Rick and pointed at him with the rag in his hand. "Look I ask, and you answer, both of you." he gave me a pointed look before he looked back down at Rick. "That's common courtesy right?" Rick and I just looked at him as he leaned down to hover over Rick. "Did you get bit?"

"Bit?" Rick ask, still not quiet understanding despite my trying to explain thing to him earier that day.

"Bit, chewed maybe scratched. Anything like that?" Morgan asked.

"No I got shot. Just shot as far as I know." Rick answered, leaning slightly away from Morgan.

Morgan reached out to place a hand on Rick's head and Rick pulled away. "Hey, just let me." Morgan whispered and Rick let him place his hand on his sweaty head. He looked at his son and said, "He feel's cool enough." then took his hand off of Ricks head. "Fever would have killed you by now." Morgan explained why he wanted to touch Rick's head.

"I don't think I have one." Rick said, still leaning away from Morgan who was sitting on the side of the bed.

"It'd be hard to miss." He said before he looked at me then at Dwayne then reached inside his back pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. He opened it and held it above Ricks face. "Take a moment, look how sharp it is." He eased it closer to Rick's face before he pulled it back and pointed it at me. "Either of you try anything. I will kill you with it and don't think I won't." he warned before he stood up and cut the roped off of Rick's hands and feet. With Rick freed he walked around the bed to me and gave me a pointed look before he cut the ropes that bound my hands and held me to the headboard. "Come on out when you're able and ready." He said as he walked to the door and tapped his son on the shoulder telling him to follow him.

Rick rubbed his wrists as he turned over on his side facing away from me. "Are you okay?" I heard the words come out of my mouth even though I already knew the answer. No, he wasn't okay. He had just found out that the world was basically coming to an end and his wife and son were missing.

He gave me a numb nod as he sat up on the side of the bed with a grunt. I moved from the chair that I had been sitting in for the past few hours and tried to help him but he shrugged away from me. He wrapped the blanket around himself as he stood up and walked out of the room. I followed him out catching the attention of Morgan and Dwayne who were just about to eat dinner. Rick looked at them before he made a detour into the dim living room. "This place…" Rick started then looked back at Morgan who could see him from the dining room, "Fred and Cindy Drake's."

"Never met them." Morgan said still standing in the archway that led to the dining room.

"I've been here. This is their place." Rick stated as he walked over to a window and started to pull back the blanket that was hanging over it.

"Don't do that." Morgan said stopping him. "They'll see the light. There's more of them out there than usual." He said before he turned back to the food on the table. "I never should've fired that gun today. The sound draws them. Now they're all over the street. Stupid…using a gun." He picked up a candle and blew it out. As Rick made his way into the dining room so did I. Dwayne looked at me nervously and I gave him a small smile, trying to relay that I wasn't a bad person or a threat. He just looked back at his dad who continued to talk. "But it all happened so fast, I didn't think.

"You shot that man today." Rick stated.

Morgan sat down then looked at Rick. "Man?" he asked.

"It weren't no man." Dwayne spoke up.

His father turned a scolding look on him as he said, "What the hell was that out of your mouth just now?" he asked.

Dwayne looked a little ashamed as he corrected himself and said, "It wasn't a man."

Rick walked closer to the table, "You shot him in the street out front…a man." Rick said sounding angry, an emotion I hadn't seen from him yet.

"Friend, you need glasses. It was a walker." Morgan said looking up at Rick before he turned his eyes on me.

"I've been calling them the crazies." I admitted and Rick gave me a questioning glare.

"Come on, sit down. Before you fall down." He told Rick before he turned to me and nodded to the chair I was standing behind. He placed a spoonful of beans on Rick's plate then mine as we sat down.

We were both about to take a bite when Dwayne spoke up, "Daddy, blessin'." Rick and I awkwardly sat down our spoons as Morgan held his hand out for Rick's and Dwayne held his out for mine. I gave the kid a questioning look and he just nodded for me to take his hand. I didn't come from a family that said a blessing over the food they ate, we just ate. But if this is how they did things and they were kind enough to share their food with me, then I would abide by their customs. So I took his small hand and Rick took Morgan's. Rick and I made eye contact before we reached out and locked our hands together, completing the circle. I closed my eyes and bowed my head.

"Lord, we thank Thee for this food, Thy blessings. And we ask you to watch over us in these crazy days. Amen." Morgan finished the prayer.

"Amen." I whispered, copying the father and son before I released Dwayne's hand. Rick gave my hand a slight squeeze before he let go and we all began to eat.

"Hey, mister, you even know what's goin' on?" Morgan asked Rick.

"I woke up today in the hospital. Joanna was there with me. She told me about the bombing of the hospital and that's all I know." Rick explained then kept on eating.

"But you know about the dead people, right?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, I saw a lot of that-" Rick said, "out on the loading docks, piled in trucks."

"No, not the one's they put down. The one's they didn't…the walkers." Morgan said with a look at me before he kept talking to Rick. "Like the one I shot today. 'Cause he'd a ripped into you, tried to eat you, taken some flesh at least." Morgan said.

"This is what I was trying to tell you, Rick." I spoke up and he looked at me then back at Morgan.

"So this isn't the first you're hearing it?" Morgan asked.

Rick nodded. "She told me that the dead was coming back and eating people, but I didn't believe it." he said with a shake of his head before he looked at me. "No offense, Joanna."

"None, taken." I waved him off. "I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it for myself."

"I know how it must sound." Morgan said with a look between us.

"They're out there now, in the street?" Rick asked.

"Yeah." Morgan answered. "They get more active after dark sometimes. Maybe it's the cool air or hell, maybe it's just me firing that gun today. But we'll be fine as long as we stay quiet. They'll probably wander off by morning. But listen, one thing I do know, don't you get bit. I saw your bandage and that's what we were afraid of." He said with a look at his son then looked back at Rick. "Bites kill you. The fever burns you out. But after a while, you come back." Morgan was doing a way better job of explaining it than me.

Rick just looked down at his food as he thought about everything that Morgan was telling him. "We've seen it happen." Dwayne spoke up and I looked from my food to him then to Morgan, who looked sad.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." I said to him then turned my eyes on Morgan.

"Have you seen it happen?" Dwayne asked me.

"Uh, almost…" I said and Morgan reached out and touched his son's shoulder.

"Come on." He said giving his son a smile that told him not to talk about it.

The conversation completely died down and we ate in silence. After dinner we all moved to the living room. Morgan and Dwayne made themselves comfortable on a mattress that they had moved into the living room while Rick made a palette out of couch cushions and blankets. I simply took off my riot gear and settled onto the couch that Rick leaned against.

"Carl, he your son?" Morgan asked making us both look up at him. "Well, you…you said his name today."

"He's a little younger than your boy." Rick answered.

"And he's with his mother?" Morgan asked.

Rick sighed then said, "I hope so." He looked up at me before he turned his gaze elsewhere.

"Dad." Dwayne said sleepily, getting his father's attention. "Did you ask him?"

Morgan laughed, "Your gunshot…" he said to Rick, "We've got a little bet going. My boy says y'all are bank robbers." He laughed and I smiled at the kid's imagination.

Rick laughed. "Yeah…that's us, Bonne and Clyde. Kapow." He said as he sat up and resituated. He gave me a smile as he settled back down, and then turned back to Morgan. "Sheriff's deputy."

"Uh-huh." Morgan nodded, and then looked back down at his sleeping son. We all jumped when a car alarm started going off outside. "Hey, it's okay. Daddy's here." Morgan comforted his son as he pulled him close. "It's nothing. One of them must've bumped a car."

"Are you sure?" Rick asked as he stood from the palette.

"It happened once before. It went off for a few minutes." Morgan explained. "Get the light Dwayne."

The kid did as told and turned off the oil lamp as Rick turned off the other one that was in the living room. This left only candle light in the living room. I moved to the door and looked out of the peep hole. "Car alarms went off all the time at the hospital." I explained as Morgan parted the blankets that were over the windows and looked out.

"It's the blue one, down the street. The same one as last time." He said. "I think we're okay."

"That noise…" Rick said, "Won't it bring more of them?"

"Nothing we can do about it now." Morgan answered. "Just have to wait 'em out till morning."

Dwayne had moved to look out the window with his father and Rick. When he gasped I stopped looking out of the peep hole to look at him. "She's here."

"Don't look. Get away from the windows." Morgan told his son who ran over to their bed and started crying. "Duane. Duane, quiet now." Morgan said as he walked over and lay down next to his son. "Come on. Quiet now."

Hearing the boy's cries made my eyes water and I looked back into the peep hole to see a woman crazy, or walker as Morgan called them, walk up the porch steps. Her hair was messy and she wore a night gown and house coat. I pulled away when I felt Rick touch my shoulder. I assumed he wanted to look out of the peephole so I moved aside and he placed his eye up to the hole. I just stood there watching him watch who I assumed was the boy's mother. I jumped back when the doorknob started turning.

Rick and I both backed away from the door. He went back to his palette and I sat back down on the couch, pulling my knees to my chest as I did. "She uh…" Morgan started and we both looked at him. "She died in that other room on that bed in there." he said, trying not to cry. "There was nothing I… I could do about it." he said while looking down at his son, rubbing his head comfortingly. "That fever, man, her skin gave off a head like a furnace." Not being able to hold onto my emotions as well as he was, tears slipped down my cheeks. I always cried when I saw someone else crying. "I should've… I should've put her down, man. I should've put her down." He stuttered out, "I know that but I... you know I just didn't have it in me." he wiped his face then went back to holding his son. "She's the mother of my child."

Rick looked at the doorknob that was still being twisted by the walkers outside before he looked up at me. I wiped my face and took a deep breath that I let out in a huff before I gave him a sad smile, letting him know I was okay. Then I turned my gaze onto Morgan, "Would it be too much if I asked if I could sleep upstairs?" I asked and Morgan cocked his head to the side silently questioning me. "I won't do anything stupid, I promise, I just…" I looked between Rick and Morgan before my eyes settled onto the hardwood floor. "I just need a little time to myself."

"No, it's not too much to ask." He said giving me a nod. "There's a usable bedroom through the first door on your right at the top of the stairs." He said so I stood from the couch, grabbed a candle off of the table and headed for the stairs. "Take this, use it to cover the window before you bring that candle in there. If they see the light it will draw 'em in."

"Okay." I took the blanket from him and headed to the bedroom. Before I opened the door I set the candle down in the hallway. The moon gave me enough light to see my way to the uncovered window and tuck the blanket into the curtain rod. I was making my way back through the now dark room to get the candle when I was met halfway by a blanket covered Rick who was holding my candle and one of his own. "Oh, hey." I greeted as I awkwardly took the candle he was holding out to me from his hand.

"I uh, I haven't thanked you for helping me." he explained as I walked over to the nightstand closest to the window and sat the candle down.

"You don't have to thank me, Rick." I told him as I sat down on the soft bed.

"No, I think I do." He replied as he walked over to stand across from me on the other side of the bed. One hand gripped the blanket that was around him while the other held his candle. "How long did you say that you took care of me in that hospital?" he asked.

"Three weeks." I answered quietly and he looked down at me with eyes that blinked rapidly as if to not cry.

"That's three weeks that you could have been outside that hospital, looking for your family." He said making my eyes water. "but instead you stayed with me, kept me hydrated and cleaned my wound. You didn't have to do that, but I'm grateful that you did."

"Well, you're welcome, I guess." I said with a teary eyed smile as I sat down on the bed

"Why aren't you looking for your family? Why are you just hanging out with me?" he asked as he sat down next to me, a few inches of space between us.

I took a deep breath and sighed it out as I turned, facing him while we talked. "I'm not looking for my family, because I have no family. They died in that hospital." I answered as I crossed my legs and tucked my hands under my feet. "I only had my mother and my sister and they got bit." He looked at me with a tilted head as he listened. "I watched them die from the fever."

"Did they come back?" he asked sounding like he didn't want to know, but he had to ask.

"No. They didn't have a chance to." I answered and he gave me a look that asked if I put them down like Morgan said he couldn't do to his wife. "The swat team came into the hospital, started pulling people out into the halls and executing them."

"How did you survive that?" he asked softly.

"When I realized what was going on, I hid in the closet." I explained, not looking at him, but at my folded, fidgeting hands. "I heard them come into the room and shoot my family in the head." He gave me a questioning look. "Trauma to the brain takes them out for good. Or in Mom and Sammy's case it kept them from coming back." I explained.

When I looked up he just stared at me for a second or two then shook his head clear of thoughts. "I'm sorry for your loss." He said with a nod of his head.

"Yeah…me too." I said with a sad smile at him in the orange candle light. "But enough about me, what about you? What are your wife and son like?" I asked to change the subject.

"Well, Carl's into video games and comic books." He said with a smile and I could tell that he was a good father, just by the look on his face. "And Lori, well, Lori's a good mother." He said with a tight laugh.

That was it? That's all he had to say about the woman he married? I wanted to ask him, but I left it alone. "They sound nice." I said with a small smile that he returned before an awkward silence fell over us. "I uh, don't mean to rush you out, but we've had a long day." I said before I stretched and yawned.

"Yeah, I'll leave you to it." he said as he stood up from the bed holding his side as he did.

"Goodnight." I called when he pulled the door open.

He looked back and me and said, "Goodnight." before he walked out, closing the door behind him.

With him gone, I grabbed my candle and walked over to the mirror that was hung over the dresser. My straight black hair hung around my face while my short side bangs hung down in my eyes. I pushed them aside revealing my naturally thinner, slightly arched brows that hung over my wide green eyes. I ran my finger tips under my eyes, trying to wipe away the dark circles that had appeared there over the past weeks. I needed to sleep more than I did, but it was hard to sleep when nightmares woke you up every hour or so.

So without bothering to change or wash up, I laid down on the bed and tried to fall asleep. It took what felt like hours before sleep actually overcame me.


	2. Chapter 2: And the journey begins

**Disclaimer:** See chapter one.

 **The Revelation of The Other Woman**

 **Chapter two:** And the Journey Begins.

When I woke up the next morning I went down stairs to find that Rick and the others were already awake and eating a breakfast of canned beans. Rick had found himself a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt to wear instead of his hospital gown and pajama pants. Morgan and Duane wore a change of clothes as well, but theirs didn't look new or clean.

Morgan put a spoon full of beans on a plate and sat it in front of the chair that I sat in the previous night. I gave them all a look, wondering if they were going to pry again. Morgan smiled at me and said, "We've already blessed it, you can eat."

"Thank you." I said as I picked up my spoon and took a bite. It wasn't much, but at least it was warm. "I'll pay you back for this." I said as I held up a spoon of beans. "I raided the cabinets of the employee cafeteria in the hospital so I have a little food. You can choose some things to replace what Rick and I have eaten." I offered and Morgan nodded. When I looked to Rick I found him giving me a look. It was one that I couldn't quite decode.

When we finished eating Rick said he wanted to go back home, so Morgan gave him a baseball bat and a riot gear mask. I took my riot gear out of my bag and put it on before we went outside. I chose not to wear the jacket to avoid looks that would suggest I was crazy. After that car alarm last night there was no telling how many walkers were going to be out and about. I reached for my gun, but Morgan stopped me saying that it wasn't a good idea. Instead he handed me a shovel. The same shovel that Duane had hit Rick with the day before. He grabbed a crowbar and left Duane defenseless. Seeing as how he had hit Rick the day before, thinking he was a walker, I was glad he didn't have a weapon.

"Are we sure they're dead?" Rick asked as we walked out of the door. "I have to ask at least one more time."

"They're dead." I answered.

"Except for something in the brain. That's why it's gotta be the head." Morgan added as he walked down the steps and out into the small yard. When a walker caught sight of us Rick ran up to it and hit it in the head with the bat. It took five hits before the walker went down and he went down with it holding his side while he kneeled on the ground. "You alright?" Morgan asked.

I walked over to Rick and laid my hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me with a pail face before he looked back down and simply said, "I need a moment." I rubbed his shoulder with my thumb before I let him go and backed up a step. He stood up and started walking toward his house. When he got inside he dropped the helmet by the door and walked into the dining room where he had been crying on the floor the day before. "My wife and son, their alive. At least they were when they left." He asked as he walked to stand at the middle of the table.

"How could you know? By the look of this place…" Morgan asked while I walked around the room, observing it in a way that I couldn't the day before.

"I found empty drawers in the bedroom." Rick stated. "They packed some clothes, not a lot, but enough to travel."

"You know anybody could've broken in here and stole them clothes, right?" Morgan asked as I looked at the empty nails that were in the wall over the fire place.

"No, I think Rick's right." I said getting the men's attention. "There are empty spots on the walls. I'm guessing photos used to hang there?" I asked Rick who nodded.

He opened up a cabinet and pointed to an empty shelf. "Our photo albums, family pictures…their gone too, some random thief come in here and take them too you think?" Rick asked.

Morgan started laughing as he pulled out a chair and sat down. "Photo albums." Rick and I looked at each other then at him, wondering what was so funny. "My wife…same thing. There I am packing survival gear, she's grabbing photo album-" he stopped talking and took a deep breath trying not to cry.

Rick looked at him and nodded while I turned my eyes to the floor and placed my hands on the back of one of the dining chairs. "They're in Atlanta, I bet." Duane spoke up making us all look at him.

"That's right." Morgan said.

"Why there?" Rick and I asked at the same time. We looked at each other then back to Morgan.

"A refugee center. A huge one they said, before the broadcast stopped." Morgan explained. I hadn't heard about that. "Military protection, food, shelter. They told people to go there, said it would be safest." Morgan said with a nod.

"Plus they got that disease place." Duane said making me give him a questioning look.

"The Center for Disease Control." Morgan corrected him. "Said they were working out how to solve this thing."

Rick nodded before he headed to the kitchen, opened a cabinet and grabbed a set of keys. "I say we head to the station. My cruiser is there along with some guns and ammo. Probably even some hot water if y'all wanna take a shower." He said as he headed down the hall to the bedroom that I assumed was his. When he came out he had several sets of clean clothes in his hands. He handed me a pair of jeans, a blue tank top and a white and brown plaid button up t-shirt. I gave him a questioning look. "I'm sure Lori won't mind if you borrow her clothes." He assured me and I nodded as I tucked them into the bag that was thrown over my shoulder.

* * *

The station was dark as Rick led us down a hall and into a locker room. Three showers sat on each side of the room and Rick sat his clothes down on a bench before he walked over to one. The knob squeaked as he twisted it, turning on the water. "Gas lines have been down for maybe a month." Morgan said while we all stood around waiting to see if it would get hot.

"The stations got it's own propane system." Rick said before he reached out and felt of the water. "Pilot's still on." He said with a nod.

When he looked over his shoulder at me I had a big smile on my face. "The water at the hospital was cold. I haven't had a hot shower since before it was bombed." I admitted and Rick just nodded.

"Women's locker room is right around the corner." He pointed out the way we came and I practically ran to it.

I quickly stripped naked and hopped under the water that eventually turned hot. I didn't bother laughing quietly and I could hear the men's laughter and yelps of joy coming through the vents above that showers that linked the two rooms. In my excitement of having hot water I forgot about the fact that I had no shampoo or body wash with me. So I reluctantly stepped out from under the water to rummage around in the lockers until I found some.

I took my time, not knowing when I would be able to take a hot shower again then dried off with a towel from the shelf in the room. When I picked up the pants, a pair of underwear and a bra that I hadn't noticed before fell out of them. Rick had loaned me a set of his wife's under things. I wasn't comfortable with the idea of wearing another woman's underwear, but what choice did I have other than wearing the same underwear that I had been wearing for the past three weeks. They had been washed of course, in the bathroom sink of the hospital, but my thong and sports bra were getting ragged.

So with a sigh I pulled on the lemon printed, Victoria's Secret, hip hugger panties then pulled the light wash jeans over them. With another uncomfortable sigh I picked up the white embroidered bra with a black lace overlay and looked at the tag. It was a size 30C. The cup size was one size too small, but with the way the cups were made, it would work. So I put it on then pulled the blue tank top over it. It was hot in the room since my long shower so I didn't bother putting on the button up shirt. Instead I tucked it into my bag along with the riot gear that I didn't feel the need to wear at the moment.

I threw the bag over my shoulder then went to look at myself in the mirror over the sink. I didn't look like me. Lori's clothes were not my style. Yoga pants and Under Armour tank tops were my style. In jean's and cotton shirts I felt restricted. But I had to get over that. These clothes were all I had and I was thankful to Rick for lending them to me. So I headed back to the door of the men's locker room and knocked on it. "Hey, you guys decent yet?" I asked and heard laughing from the other side.

"We'll be out in a minute." I heard Rick say so I started wandering around. When they came out Rick was clean shaven and dressed in a tan policeman's uniform. "Let's go see what guns are left." He said and we followed him to the storage area. "A lot of its gone missing." He said as he took a gun off of the shelf and started checking it over.

"Daddy, can I learn to shoot? I'm old enough." Duane asked sounding a little nervous.

"Hell yes, you're gonna learn." Morgan said as he stuck some bullets in his pocket and turned to his son. "But we've got to do it carefully, teach you to respect the weapon."

"That's right. It's not a toy. You pull the trigger, you have to mean it. Always remember that, Duane." Rick told the boy before he looked at me. "You've been carrying that gun around. Do you even know how to shoot it?" he asked.

I felt a blush come to my cheek as I took it off of me. "No." I handed it to him and he gave me a smile as he took it. "But I do know how to use a hand gun. I got my concealed hand gun permit when I was old enough. Being a single woman in the city, I figured I needed it." I said with a shrug. "But I don't have it with me. I left it at my apartment."

Rick turned back to the shelves that held a few guns. He picked up a shot gun and handed it to Morgan. "Take that one. Nothing fancy. The scopes accurate." Morgan moved away from us a step and lifted the gun to look through the scope. Rick loaded up some guns and matching ammo into a large duffle bag before he picked up one of the pistols there and handed it to me. "You take this one. It's light and easy to handle. Ammo for its right there." he pointed to the bottom shelf so I loaded all of the boxes into my bag.

When we were done we headed out. "Conserve your ammo." Rick said as we walked out into the parking lot where Morgan and I had parked our cars. "It goes faster than you think, especially at target practice." Rick said as he walked over to a police cruiser and sat down his stuff. Morgan told Duane to put their duffle bags in their car and the kid obeyed. "Are you sure you won't come along?" Rick asked as I stood back and watched their conversation.

"A few more days. By then Duane will know how to shoot and I won't be so rusty." He said.

Rick then turned to me and asked, "What about you, what are planning to do now?"

"Um, I don't…" I blinked, feeling a little lost now that I had no goal in mind. "I don't really have any plans."

"You're more than welcome to come with me to the refugee center." he said and I nodded. "Go get your stuff. There's room for it in the trunk." He said with a nod to his car. "My car's probably better on gas." He said with a smug smile.

"Hey, just because she's old does not mean that she's a gas guzzler." I mocked as I headed to my car and grabbed my bags off of the ground then grabbed my cell phone charger and the bag I kept all my food in out of the car and shut the door. Rick was still looking at me with a smug smile as I walked to his car and put the bags in the trunk. "Okay, so she's a gas guzzler." I admitted and the three guys laughed. "Hate to leave my car behind…Took me forever to hunt down a black 67 Impala." I admitted with a looked back at my most prized possession.

"What's so special about a '67 Impala?" Morgan asked.

"It's the car that Sam and Dean drove in Supernatural." I said and they both just stared at me. "Supernatural's my favorite tv show. I've never missed an episode." I explained further and they just started laughing.

Rick's smile faded as he leaned into his car and took out a walkie talkie. "You've got one battery. I'll turn mine on a few minutes every day at dawn. You get up there that's how you'll find us." he said as he handed the radio to Morgan.

"You think ahead." Morgan said as he walked around the cruiser and headed to his car.

"I can't afford not to, not anymore." Rick said as he followed him while I stayed leaning against the cruiser.

"Listen, one thing." Morgan said, turning back to Rick. "They may not seem like much one at a time, but in a group, all riled up and hungry…man, you watch your ass." He warned.

Rick nodded. "You too." and shook his hand.

"Hey, Morgan," I said pulling his attention away from Rick as I grabbed my bag of food out of the trunk, unzipped it then held out to him. "I still owe you for feeding us." I explained. He gave me a smile as he picked out a can of raviolis and a large bag of Doritos.

He nodded his head at me in thanks before he turned to Rick. "You're a good man, Rick. I hope you find your wife and son." He said before he looked back at me. "That goes for you too, you're a kind woman. Stay that way and stay safe out there." he told me before he started to walk away.

"See you little man." I told Duane and he smiled at me with a nod.

Rick bent down to be eye level with him. "Be seeing you, Duane. Take care of your old man."

"Yes, sir." He laughed.

We were all about to go our separate ways when we heard a walker approaching from the front of the building. It was an officer with a walkie hanging from his side. "Leon Basset?" I heard Rick ask.

"Is he a friend of yours?" I asked as I stepped up beside him and Morgan pulled Duane into his side.

"Na, I didn't think much of him." Rick admitted. "He was careless and dumb, but I can't leave him like this."

"You know they'll hear the shot." Morgan said.

"Then let's not be here when they show up." Rick said before he walked over to the walker and shot him in the head with his pistol. I climbed into the passenger seat without a word as Rick did the same, then cranked the car. We had only been driving for a little while before he pulled the car over. "I have to do something real quick, I'll be back." I didn't ask for further explanation. I just stayed in the car and watched him walk through the park until he was out of eye sight. After a few minutes I heard a gunshot sound and I jumped in my seat. While I waited for him to come back I dug my cell phone and it's charger out of the bag and plugged it into the cigarette lighter. The phone's start up screen popped up after I hit the power button and when it was done turning on a picture of Mom, Sammy and me popped up. "I thought cell phones didn't work anymore." Rick said when he got back in the car and shut the door.

"They don't. I just wanted to see their faces." I admitted as I showed him the background picture on my smart phone.

"That your mom and sister?" he asked and I nodded. I clicked the screen off and sat the phone down to charge. I watched as he flipped down the sun visor and took out a picture.

He handed it to me, not taking his eyes off of the road. "Lori and Carl?" I asked and he hummed out a yes. "That's one attractive family you have there." I said as I handed him back the picture. "Carl's gonna be a catch when he gets older." I said making him smile as he looked at the road. "Kinda like his dad." I didn't mean for the words to come out. He was a married man and I shouldn't have said it, but it was what I was thinking. When he didn't immediately say anything I was afraid that I had made things awkward between us.

But eventually he laughed and said, "Thanks." And the awkwardness in the air faded along with the blush in my cheeks. When we got completely out of town he spoke up again, making me take my eyes off of the surrounding country side. "Will you hand me that radio right there?" he asked and I silently did as he asked. Then he fiddled with a knob and started talking into the CB radio. "Broadcasting on emergency channel. Will be approaching Atlanta on highway 85. Anybody reads, please respond." He said then waited to see if someone answered. "Hello, hello? Can anybody hear my voice?" he asked then waited only to hear nothing. "Anybody out there? Anybody hears me, please respond." He waited again, and nothing. "Hello, Hello. Can anybody hear my voice?" he asked as he started repeating what he had said.

"Rick, it's useless. No one can hear you." I said

He tossed the radio down with an aggravated sigh. "Well I had to try."

"I know, I didn't mean to sound like a pessimist. I'm sorry." I apologized.

"I know you didn't." he said with a sideways look at me before he turned his eyes back ahead. "Damn it." he cursed and I looked at him to see that he was upset about, but I didn't see anything.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I tucked a short strand of black hair out of my face.

"We're almost out of gas." He said with an aggravated look at me.

"Oh…well, we'll figure something out." I assured him as I loosened the seatbelt so that I could turn sideways in the seat to look at him. "I saw you put a gas can in the trunk, was there any gas in it?" I asked and he shook his head no. "Damn." I sighed as I leaned my head forward to rest on his shoulder. I felt him look down at me then back at the road. So I leaned back in my seat. "Do you have a GPS or a map?" I asked.

"Yeah, there's a GPS in the glove box. It should be charged." He told me gruffly.

So I opened the glove box, pulled out the small GPS and turned it on. "It says there's a gas station half a mile head of us." I told him before I turned the GPS off and stuck it back into the glove box. "So I guess we can stop there and see if they have any gas left." I told him as I leaned my head sideways onto the headrest.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan." He said, quietly as he looked into my eyes. He was giving me that look again. The same one he gave me at breakfast this morning, the one I couldn't figure out. "How are you so calm right now?" he asked with as he turned his eyes back to the road. "Any other woman I know would be panicking and worrying, I know Lori would be. She's be hassling me saying "Do something, figure something out." But you… you don't look worried about the fact that we're in the middle of nowhere running out of gas."

"There's no use in worrying about something that we have no control over." I shrugged.

He just laughed and kept his eyes on the road. Silence fell over us until we came to the gas station and he pulled over next to an over turned log truck, then killed the car and popped the trunk. I got out and waited for him to grab the gas can while tucked the pistol he gave me into the back of my jeans and tucked my shirt behind it in case I needed it in a hurry.

He bumped me on the shoulder as he walked by me and nodded toward the station. I walked behind him down the steep hill past cars, tents and other makeshift shelters that people had made. Clothing, toys and other random items littered the ground. When we got to the pumps we both looked up at the sign that said "No Gas" as it clanked against the metal pole that it hug on. We turned around to head back to the car when we heard the shuffling of feet. I ducked down beside the car that we were standing next to while Rick looked under the car to see what it was.

When Rick stood up I looked over the car to see a little girl dressed in a dirty white bathrobe shuffling away from us. "Little girl?" Rick asked as he started walking toward her. "Little girl? I'm a policeman." He said and I caught up with him and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Rick, she's a walker." I told him and he blinked down at me with a sigh.

"She picked up her stuffed animal. She's alive." He argued before he looked back at the blond headed girl. "Little girl." He said to get her attention and she finally stopped. "Don't be afraid, okay?" he asked as he slowly walked closer and my hand slipped off of his shoulder. "Little girl?" he asked again. When she turned around revealing that half of her lips and cheek were missing, I took the gun out of the back of my jeans. Dark blood dripped from the hole in her face onto her shirt.

I saw Rick tilt his head to the side and he started shaking. When the girl started heading toward him I stepped to the side so that I wouldn't hit him, aimed at the center of her head and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered from the back of her head onto the pavement as she flew backward, landing in the pile of her blood. Rick stared at the little girl for a few second before he turned to me, looking like he was in shock. "Come on." I said as I jerked my head in the direction of the car. "Let's get out of here before more come to the sound." He didn't move until I walked over and gave his jacket sleeve a tug.

We didn't speak as we walked back to the car, got in and kept driving. We were able to drive for ten more minutes before the car motor sputtered and died. Rick guided the car to the side of the road as the car rolled to a stop. "That's it. We're out of gas." He said as he pulled the keys out and tossed them onto the dash.

"Then it looks like we're on foot from here." I said as I undid my seatbelt and turned in my seat to look at him.

"You're still not fazed by any of this are you?" he asked looking at me in awe.

"Oh, I'm fazed by it." I said as I tucked a lock of my black hair behind my ear. "I just don't let it get to me." I looked down and the lock of hair that I had just tucked behind my ear fell to cover my eyes. "If I do… I might have a panic attack and… I don't want that to happen." It was hard for me to admit that and when I looked up at Rick he was looking down at me with his clear blue eyes.

He brushed my hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. "You prone to panic attacks?" he asked as he dropped his hand from my face.

"Yeah, I've had them every since I was little. It's why I started dancing. It calmed me down and got me out of my head." I said and he gave me a questioning look. "Oh, I didn't tell you, I was a dance instructor before all of this." I explained.

"Make's since." He said with a smile. "You have that graceful air about you."

I didn't know if it was a compliment or not, but I felt a blush flood my cheeks regardless. "Uh,… thanks I guess." I stuttered out and he laughed as he leaned away from me, popped the trunk then pulled the car door open. I was grabbing my cell phone of the cup holder where it had fallen when he leaned back into the car, flipped the sun visor down and grabbed the picture of his family. When I got out I saw him stick it in his shirt pocket. He nodded his head to the back of the car so I walked around it, meeting him at the trunk.

I grabbed my two bags and sat them on the ground before I reached for the gas can. Rick reached for it at the same time and ended up placing his hand over mine. The feel of his warm hand on mine sent tingles up my hand and pulled at something in my chest. My hand felt like it was welded to his, I couldn't move it. All I could do was look to my left and see that he was giving me the look again. This time, more intensely than before and it turned me into a statue. His clear blue eyes never left mine as his hand picked up mine and laced our fingers together.

This action snapped me out of whatever daze his look and touch had out me under. "Um." I cleared my throat and took my hand from his to grab the orange gas can and set it on the ground. I quickly pick up my bags and threw them over my shoulder. When they were in place and comfortable on my back I headed to my open door and grabbed the pistol Rick had given me off of the dashboard. I tucked it into the waist band of my jeans like before then looked up to see him waiting for me at the front of the car with the gas can in his hand.

We walked in awkward silence until we came to a white house with a rusting tin roof, a window unit hanging out of one window and a satellite dish mounted on the covered porch. "You think anyone's home?" I asked, taking in the over grown flowers and bushes that grew around the porch.

"I don't know." Rick answered simply before he sat down his bags. "Hello?" he called as he started walking up to the house. "Police officer out here." I hesitantly followed behind him with my gun at the ready. "Can we borrow some gas?" He asked as he sat the gas can down and kept walking toward the house. "Hello?" he called as he walked of the steps and to the door. He knocked on the door and called "Hello? Anybody home?"

While he looked through the glass on the door I moved to a window on the porch and looked inside. I didn't see anything so I moved to another one and peered in. A man whose head was half blown off was half way off of the living room couch and a shot gun rested in his hand. Flies buzzed around him and an older woman whose head rested on blood stained carpet. "Oh, god." I backed up and covered my mouth with my hand. Seeing murdered people and walkers was one thing, but seeing a couple who chose to end things themselves, was another.

Rick gave me a questioning look and I pointed to the window. He braced himself on the house as he leaned in and looked through the window. As he backed away he grabbed the porch rail and looked at me. He looked just as shocked from seeing the scene as I probably did. I wanted to say something to him, but I couldn't think. The sound of my heard pounding in my chest drowned everything out. I just watched him as he walked off of the porch and headed over to the concrete table and benches that were under a tree and sat down.

I looked away from him and sighed and I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to calm the rapid beating of my heart. If I didn't, I feared I would have a panic attack and I didn't want that to happen in front of Rick. He didn't need that right now and neither did I. When I had calmed down enough I left the porch and found Rick with his head poked into the truck in the driveway. "Find anything?" I asked and he shook his head no.

We were walking back to the house when we heard a horse blow at us. I ignored it and kept on walking, but Rick put his hand on my shoulder, stopping me. "A horse doesn't run out of gas." He said with a small smile as he started walking over to the fence. I followed reluctantly behind him. He put his hat on the fence post and grabbed a lead rope that was draped over it before he pushed the gate open and slowly started walking toward the horse.

He had left the gate open, so I tiptoed over and closed it. He glanced back at me but didn't say anything then looked back at the horse as he started talking to it and easing closer. The horse neighed and backed up a bit. I jumped and pulled the gate tighter closed. "Easy now. Easy." Rick said holding his hand out to calm him "I'm not gonna hurt you. Nothing like that." He said easing closer and closer to it. "More like a proposal. Atlanta's just down the road a ways. It's safe there…food, shelter, people…" he said as I watched him ease closer and closer to the big brown and white animal. "Other horses too I bet. How's that sound?" he asked as he looped the rope over the horses head and secured it without it being too tight. "There we go, good boy." He whispered "Now come with me, come on." He started leading the horse over to the gate. "Open it up." he told me and I shook my head no. "I gotta take him to the barn and get him settled up." Rick explained.

I sighed and pushed the gate open, making sure to stay far away from the horse, especially it's back side. "You don't like horses?" he asked, taking in my distance and creased brow.

"Not really, no." I answered with my arms cross over my chest as we walked into the barn.

"Why? He's not going to hurt you." he said as he patted the horse's nose then tied him to one of the poles to keep him from running off.

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it." I said adjusting my arms over my chest as he threw a saddle blanket over the horse then grabbed one of the saddles off of the rack on the wall. He just laughed at me then finished getting the horse ready to be ridden. When he was done he put his foot in the stirrup and swung himself up. He'd clearly ridden a horse before. Once he was comfortable he held his hand out for me. "Uh…" I said as I backed away.

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, are you really that scared of a horse?"

"I was kicked by one when I was little, so yeah, I am." I answered still not taking his offered hand.

"Seriously, come on, we're wasting daylight." He said shaking his hand at me.

"Fine." I sighed and dropped my arms from my chest to take his hand. "Uh, how do I…?" I asked.

"Put your foot in the stirrup and I'll help you the rest of the way."

I did as he said and he pulled me up to sit behind him. "Oh, god…this is high." I said looking down at the ground.

Rick laughed and looked at me over his shoulder. "Just hang on to me and you'll be fine." He said and I wrapped my arms around his stomach, making sure I didn't squeeze his bandage. It was a tad uncomfortable where I sat on the saddle blanket with the bag of guns that was on Ricks back resting on my side. He leaned forward and patted the side of the horse as he gave it a small kick and the horse started walking. "Just go easy, okay?" he cooed to the horse. "I haven't done this for years." As soon as the words left his mouth the horse took off running.

I yelped and hugged Rick tighter as my heart started pounding in my chest. "Make it stop!" I yelled with my face pressed into his back.

"Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa." He yelled and the horse just neighed in response. "Easy now. Easy boy. Easy, easy." He tried, but the horse just kept on running. He kept talking to it, but it kept on running at full speed. I squeezed my eyes closed, focusing only on the feel of him in my death grip and my face pressed to his back. I didn't move until the horse slowed to a trot and I could hear the clip clop of his hooves on pavement. "Uh, Joanna?" Rick asked getting my attention. "Can you loosen the grip a bit? You're startin' to hurt me."

"Oh, uh," I loosened my hold on him and finally pulled my face from his back and opened my eyes, "Sorry." I said sheepishly.

"It's fine. Are you okay?" he asked with a look back at me.

I took a deep breath and let it out before I answered. "Yeah, I'm fine. Pretty sure I almost had a mini heart attack, but I'm fine." I laughed, my fear of being on the horse was still evident in my voice. Reluctantly I took my eyes off of his tan shirt to look around me. We were back on the highway and the tall buildings of Atlanta could be seen in the distance. We were silent as we rode down the highway leading into Atlanta. This side was completely empty, not a car in sight, while the other side was packed tight with cars leaving the city. "Uh, Rick?" I asked and he hummed letting me know he was listening. "Is it just me or are things not adding up here?"

"What do you mean?" he asked as we passed under a bridge.

"You do see that packed road to our left right? If there's a safe zone in that city wouldn't those cars be on this side of the highway?" I asked, still holding onto his waist, scared that I would fall off of the horse at any second.

He drew the horse to a stop and looked over his shoulder at me then looked around. "Yeah…you're probably right." He sighed. "But if Lori and Carl came here then I have to look."

"I know you do." I replied as I shifted uncomfortably behind him.

"You don't have to come with me." he said still looking at me over his shoulder. "I can drop you off right here. You can find a working car and go your own way."

I leaned over enough to be able to see his face. "No." I shook my head as I looked into his eyes that were asking me not to go. "I told you I'd help you find them and that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

He gave me a nod, said "Okay" then gave the horse a little kick and it started galloping. I yelped and grabbed him tighter making him laugh.

"That wasn't funny." I hissed from behind him. He slowed the horse down to a trot and I loosened my hold.

"I thought it was." He countered. I half heartedly punched him on his shoulder and he laughed.

Once we got into the outskirts of the city I looked around me, seeing no life anywhere on the streets or in the buildings. "I've never seen this place so quiet before." I said still looking around me while holding his sides.

"Me either." He replied quietly as we continued on.

As we road through the barren, blockaded and burned streets I got more and more on edge about being here. As we road past a burned bus walkers came out of it. I jumped at the same time the horse did. "Rick." I said in a warning tone.

He got the horse under control then glanced back at me. "It's just a few, nothing we can't outrun." I had a feeling he was talking to me _and_ the horse as he urged it into a gallop.

We had taken a left turn down another road when Rick pulled the horse to a stop in front of a tank. Crows were pecking at the exposed back of a dead man who was draped over the barrel of the tank. "Oh, that's gross." I sighed as I covered my mouth and looked away from the disgusting sight.

Rick just clicked his tongue at the horse and it started walking forward. We had to duck to keep from getting clothes lined by the barrel of the tank. We had just gotten past the tank when I heard a loud, pulsing noise. "Rick, is that-?" I asked as we looked up, searching for the sound.

"A helicopter? Yeah I think so." He said and we spotted it at the same time in the reflection of some windows on a sky scraper ahead of us. "Yah!" he yelled as he kicked the horse and it took off running. I yelped and pressed my face into his back hating that he made the horse go fast. I felt us take a left turn when he pulled the horse to a stop and I heard, "Uh oh."

"Uh oh, what?" I asked as I pulled my face from his back and saw the thousands of walkers that we were facing. "Oh shit." I whispered to myself. The horse reared up, making me scream and grab onto Rick for dear life so that I wouldn't be thrown off. He quickly turned the horse around and ran at full speed away from the herd.

The walkers naturally started chasing us and we were about to pass the tank when we were cut off my more walkers. "Shit." Rick said shakily as he turned the horse and tried to go back, but the walkers that we were originally running from had gained on us. The horse started whinnying like crazy as walkers surrounded it and us. It reared up, throwing Rick and I off before it was pushed to the ground and ripped into by the walkers. I looked at Rick to see a walker headed to him and he kicked it in the face. When I looked back up I saw one headed toward me with its hands out stretched. I copied Rick and kicked it in the face then tried to get away, but walkers were everywhere, cutting me off in all directions. I just knew I was going to die, but that's when I heard Rick yell at me. "Joanna, under the tank." I looked in his direction to see him crawling under the big hunk of metal.

So I quickly scurried under with him. Now that I had the chance, I pulled my pistol out of my jeans and flicked the safety off. A walker was grabbing at my shoe so I shot him. Rick bumped me getting my attention before he started crawling to the other end of the tank. But soon, walkers kneeled down and looked at us with hungry faces. We stopped crawling and Rick turned onto his back shooting the walkers that were coming at our feet, while I stayed on my stomach and shot the walkers that were coming for our heads.

When Rick stopped shooting I looked at him to see that he had his pistol pointed at his head. "Lori, Carl, Joanna, I'm sorry." I was about to tell him not to do it when he suddenly moved upward and I didn't understand how until I turned onto my back I saw that he had gone inside the tank through a hole in the bottom of it. "Joanna, give me your hands!" he shouted and I grabbed his hands that he was holding out for me.

He pulled me and I scrambled to him until I was inside the tank. Walkers started hitting the trap door as soon as it was closed. Now that we were safe we scrambled in opposite directions. He sat beside a dead solider while I leaned against the wall next to the driver seat. I gave Rick a tired look as I panted, trying to catch my breath.

He looked from me to the dead solider and grabbed the gun out of its pocket. He was looking at the gun when I saw that the solider wasn't completely dead. "It's not dead." I warned Rick and pointed to the walker that growled at him. Rick freaked, pointed the gun under the walkers chin and pulled the trigger.

The sound reverberated off of the metal walls making my head pound and my ears ring. I cried out from the pain, pulled my knees to my chest, covered my ears and closed my eyes in an attempt to stop the ringing.

When I opened my eyes my vision was blurry and Rick was standing in a chair poking his head out of the top of the tank. As the ringing faded I could hear walkers outside banging on the side of the tank, trying to get in and eat us. Rick shakily closed the top and fell back down into the tank.

Seeing that he was ok for the most part, I closed my eyes and tucked my head between my knees until the ringing stopped and I felt like I could move without puking. When I opened my eyes I saw Rick still sitting where he had fallen with his forehead resting on his gun. Sweat dripped from his nose.

As I sat up and looked around me, the predicament we were in and the fact that were probably were not going to make it out of this alive, sank in. I could feel the panic attack coming and I tried to take slow even breaths, but it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. Even though air was easily moving in and out of my lungs it was as if my body was fighting to absorb it. My hands started to shake and I could feel tears sliding down my sweaty face.

When Rick saw me he scooted over and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" he sounded as tired as I felt. I shook my head no and he reached out and wiped my face with his hand. "It's okay. You're gonna be okay." He said as he brushed my hair out of my face. "We are gonna be okay." He said as he scooted around to sit next to me. My breaths were coming in jerky gasps now and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, holding me to his side. "Breathe with me, okay?" he said as he picked up my shaking hand and placed it over his chest, holding it there with his. I didn't look at him, though. I stared at the tan metal floor of the tank. I wasn't doing a good job of copying his breathing and he let go of my hand to cup my cheek, making me look at him. My green eyes locked with his blues and I couldn't look away. He let go of my face and placed his hand back over mine that was still on his chest. "Come on, breathe with me, Joanna."

I started making more of an effort to slow my breathing and eventually it slowed to a normal pace. Seeing that I was better, he let me take my hand from his chest, but he didn't take his arm from around my shoulders and I was glad that he didn't. His touch was calming me. I finally looked away from him as I reached up and wiped the tears from my face. "I'm sorry." I sighed as I looked down at my hands that were folded in my lap then let them travel down my outstretched legs to look at the blood that was smeared on my white Keds.

"Hey," Rick said making me look up at him, "don't be sorry." I just stared at him. I had just had a panic attack at the worst possible moment and he wasn't even mad. "You can't always be so strong."

"I'm not strong." I sighed with a shake of my head.

He rubbed my shoulder with his thumb before he leaned closer to me and said, "You are."

I blinked at him with more tears forming in my eyes. No one had ever told me that before. I always tried to be strong, to not let my panic attacks get the best of me, but… no one ever really saw how hard I tried. Mom and Sammy loved me, but they still just saw me as fragile. I blinked back the tears, not wanting to cry anymore in front of Rick. "Thank you."

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on mine as he pushed my hair out of my face then let his hand rest on the back of my neck. When he opened his eyes they met mine. I think in that moment we both realized that we were feeling something for each other. Going through all of this had brought us together and now, seeing as how we were probably gonna die in that tank, I decided not to care that he was married. The fact that he had a wife didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that I was here with Rick, who was rubbing the back of my neck comfortingly with his thumb. The same Rick that I kept alive in the hospital, that convinced me to ride a horse and talked me through a panic attack better than anyone else ever had.

"Rick, I think I-" I was cut off when his warm lips touched my, silencing me. I tensed up for a split second before I relaxed into the kiss. My hands were on auto pilot as they moved to the sides of his neck. My senses were super aware of his hand on my lower back, holding me to him, and the feel of his fingertips pressing into my skin as they slid over my shoulder and collarbone down to where he cupped my breast in his hand.

As we kissed he moved to lean back against the wall and situated me so that I was straddling his lap. I was in the process of unbuttoning his shirt when we heard a crackling sound from somewhere inside the tank. I pulled back and looked around me to see that it was coming from the CB radio. "Hey you." a voice came from the radio and I scrambled off of Rick. "Dumbass." We both looked at the radio, stunned that someone was talking to us. "Yeah, you two in the tank. Are you cozy in there?"


	3. Chapter 3: New People

Disclaimer: See Chapter one.

 **The Revelation of The Other Woman.**

Ch. 3: New People.

Rick scrambled past me to the cb radio and started talking to the male voice on the other side. I on the other hand couldn't listen to them, I was still trying to wrap my head around what had just happened between Rick and me.

But told myself that now wasn't the time to think about that, so I shook all thoughts of him and me out of my head and focused on the guy on the cb who said, "Yeah, I'd say make a run for it."

"That's it? Make a run for it?" Rick asked as I scooted closer to hear the man on the cb better.

"My way's not as dumb as it sounds." The guy said and I stood up to pull the blood coated jacket out of my bag along with the ammo. I pulled the coat on then loaded up my gun. "You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. You with me so far?"

"So far." Rick answered and turned his eyes to me as they continued talking.

"Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted you stand a chance. You got ammo?" the voice asked.

"In that duffel bag I dropped out there and guns. Can I get to it?" Rick said.

"Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option." The guy said and I let my head fall forward. Without those guns, we were screwed. "What do you have on you?"

"Hang on." Rick said before he dropped the radio, checked his clip then moved to the dead man and raided his pockets. When he found a grenade he grabbed it and looked at me, asking if he should take it. I nodded at him and he stuck it in his pocket then moved to me. "What do you have?"

"Full clip and two boxes, not that I can reload while running." I informed holding up the gun and ammo boxes.

He gave me a nod then picked up the radio. "We've got a Beretta with one clip, fifteen rounds and a Glock with 17."

"Make 'em count." The voice said and I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, calming myself while I still had the chance. "Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe 50 yards. Be there."

"Hey, what's your name?" Rick asked, but I didn't look at him. I was too busy taking deep calming breaths, getting myself ready for what might come at us.

"Have you been listening? You're running out of time." They guy scolded.

"Right." Rick said before he grabbed a shovel off of the wall of the tank and turned to me. "Joanna, you ready?" I dropped my head and opened my eyes to look at him and give him a nod. He surprised me when he wrapped his arm around me pulling me to him before he placed his lips over mine. We shared a tongue tangling, breath stealing kiss for a few seconds before we pulled back and he gave me a nod of his own. "Okay, let's go." He said then headed over to the top hatch and threw it open. I heard him hit a walker with the shovel before he climbed all the way out then bent down to help me scramble up and out.

I jumped down off of the tank after he did. But he fell to the ground while I somehow managed to land gracefully on my feet, so I held a hand out, pulling him up before we started running in the direction the voice on the radio had told us to. We ran side by side, shooting walkers in the head as we did. When we came to the alley way we both turned and pointed our guns at the next head we saw. "Whoa! Not dead!" the tanned skinned guy yelled with his hands up in the air. "Come on! Come on!" he yelled and the three of us ran down the alley way. "Back here!"

When the guy started climbing a ladder I quickly followed, but when I looked down, Rick was still standing at the bottom. "Rick! Come on!" I yelled and he looked up at me then started climbing with walkers grabbing at his feet. When we came to a metal platform the guy climbed up then gave me a hand up. As soon as I was safely up I leaned over and gave Rick a hand. We all just stood there, catching our breath for a minute.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood." The guy panted. "You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town with your army wannabe girlfriend here?" he asked taking in my riot gear. He gave me a weird look when he saw my back pressed against the wall instead of leaning against the railing like he and Rick were.

"Wasn't my intention." Rick answered.

"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw." The guy said sarcastically and I glared at him. "You're still a couple of dumbass's."

Rick stood up straight and held his hand out to the guy. "Rick, that's Joanna, thanks." He said.

The guy took his and hand shook it as he looked at me. I gave him a tight smile and flicked my wrist giving him a single wave. He just looked back and Rick and said, "Glenn. You're welcome." He moved around to look down the ladder. "Oh, no." I carefully leaned over the ladder to see that a walker was starting to climb it. So we moved to climb the rest of the ladder. "The bright side, it'll be the fall that kills us." Glenn said and I felt my head start pounding. "I'm a glass half full kind of guy."

"Good for you." I popped off sarcastically and Rick looked back at me to see that my face had paled.

"You weren't just scared of that horse were you? You're scared of heights." He said as he put a hand on my shoulder and I nodded. "You gonna be able to do this?" he asked

I made myself stand up straight and take a deep breath. "I don't really have any other choice do I?" I asked rhetorically as I stretched my neck and rolled my shoulders trying to free them of tension. Rick still just looked at me, worry was in his eyes. I didn't want him to worry about me. "I'll be fine, I promise."

He gave me a nod then Glenn started climbing with Rick behind him and me last. The whole time I was climbing the extremely long ladder, I was chanting over and over in my head "I think I can. I think I can." And when we got to the top Rick held his hand out to me and helped me up the rest of the way. "Told you." I said with a smile.

He just smiled back before we started following Glenn through the maze of rooftops. "Are you the one that barricaded the ally?" Rick asked as we walked across a bridge from one rooftop to another.

"Somebody did, I guess when the city got overrun. Whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get though." Glenn answered as we ran over to a hatch.

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for us?" Rick asked.

Glenn opened the hatch. "Call it foolish, naïve hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me." he answered as he threw his bag down the hole then started to climb down. "Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you two." Rick rolled his eyes then gave me a look that suggested that he wanted Glenn to stop calling us dumbass's, then motioned for me to go down. This ladder wasn't at long and when we got to the bottom we ran through a door that led back outside to thankfully, a stairwell. "I'm back. Got some guests plus four geeks in the alley." He said and when we got to the bottom we stopped, getting cut off by the four walkers he mentioned.

I jumped when two people in riot gear came out and bashed in the brains of the walkers. We ran past them while they were still beating the walkers, and into a building. As soon as I was in the building a blond headed woman shoved me back against something I didn't get a good look at. "You bitch! We ought to kill you." she shoved a gun in my face.

"Just chill out, Andrea. Back off." A guy said, but she didn't let the gun down. As I looked at it, I realized that the safety was still on. Even if she pulled the trigger, nothing would happen. So she was either just trying to scare me or she was too dumb to take the gun off of safety.

"Yeah, Andrea, back off." Rick said as he pulled his gun and placed it on her temple.

"Come on, ease up." An ebony skinned woman behind Andrea said.

I gave Rick a hand motion that told him to drop his gun, but he didn't. "Ease up, you're kidding me right? We're dead because of these stupid assholes." She said inching the gun closer to my head.

"Andrea, I said back the hell off." A guy with dark curly hair said, but she still kept the gun on me.

"Do it." I said leaning up to put my nose against the barrel of the pistol. "I freakin' dare you. Pull the trigger and see what happens." I wanted to see what effect my words had on Rick, but I didn't want to take my eyes off of the bitch that was holding me at gunpoint.

She finally broke and dropped the gun as she backed off of me. "We're dead…all of us…because of you two."

Rick put his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him as he looked around at the other people in the room. "I don't understand." He said.

The guy with the dark curly hair grabbed both of us by the shoulders of our shirts and started pushing us forward. "Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies." He said. "You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving!" he gave us both a shove before he took his hands off of us. "You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the o.k. Corral."

We stopped walking when the double glass doors of the department store we were in came into view. "Every geek for miles around heard you two popping off rounds." I looked over to see who had said that to see that it was an ebony skinned man wearing a black hat, whose name I didn't know yet.

"You just rang the dinner bell." Andrea said and I looked back at the walkers that were banging against the outer layer of glass doors. I heard someone say something, but I didn't pay attention to him. As we watched, one of the walkers picked up a rock and started hitting the glass with it, making it break. We all stumbled back away from the doors. "What the hell were you two doing out there anyway?" Andrea asked.

"Trying to flag the helicopter." Rick answered.

"Helicopter?" the guy in the black hat asked. "Man that's crap. There ain't no damn helicopter."

"You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things. It happens." The ebony woman said.

"A hallucination that both of us saw and heard?" I asked making them all look at me. "I don't think so."

"It was there." Rick added and they all just shook their heads at us.

"Hey, T-Dog, try that CB. Can you contact the others?" the guy with the dark hair and beard asked.

"Others?" Rick asked.

"You're not talking about the refugee center are you?" I asked.

"Yeah, the refugee center. They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us." The ebony woman with short hair said.

"Got no signal." T-dog, the man in the black hat said. "Maybe the roof."

As soon as those words left his mouth a gunshot sounded up on the roof. "Oh no. Was that Dixon?" Andrea asked before they all headed for the roof.

"You're getting pissed at us when one of your own is doin' the same thing?" I asked as we ran up the spiraling staircase.

"He ain't exactly one of our own." T-Dog said before we got to the door at the top and ran out onto the roof.

An older man in a leather vest stood on the edge of the building with a shotgun in his hands. "Hey! You ought to be more polite to a man with a gun!" he yelled, haphazardly pointing the gun in our direction before he hopped down off of the edge. "Only common sense."

"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got, man." T-dog said as he jumped down off of the small platform to confront the asshole. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill."

I just stood back and watched as the guy, Dixon, spat racist slur after racist slur at T-dog and the Mexican guy, the one with the dark hair and beard. Rick looked at Glenn and he shook his head, telling Rick to stay out of it. He then looked at me, silently asking me if I thought he should intervene. I just shrugged, not knowing what to do. When punches started being thrown Rick jumped in and ended up getting punched, sending him flying over some pipes that ran along the roof.

I ran to Rick and helped him up then pulled the clip out of my gun, checking that I had bullets. I didn't know what I planned to do with it, but I had the safety off and held at the ready in case I needed it. When Dixon pulled a gun on T-Dog my finger moved closer to the trigger. "We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh?" Dixon asked as he stood up and let the others pull T-Dog away from him. Knowing that he hadn't seen me I left Rick and hid behind a large metal box that I was sure held electrical stuff for the building. I situated myself so that I could see him, but he couldn't see me. "Show of hands, huh?"

I aimed at his feet and shot. He jumped, shocked and not knowing where the shot had come from.

"The hell!?" he yelled and with him distracted Rick picked up the shotgun Dixon had dropped and hit him in the face with it. Dixon fell to the ground and Rick stepped on his face keeping him from moving while he took the pistol from him and hand cuffed him to some of the pips. "Who the hell are you man?" Dixon yelled as I came out of hiding to stand with the rest of the people.

"Officer Friendly." Rick answered before he took the clip out of the gun and the bullet out of the chamber. "Look here, Merle." Huh his name was Merle, guess I missed that somehow. "Things are different now. There are no _Niggers_ anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart." Rick lectured and I smiled.

"Screw you, man." Merle said and I walked around so that he could see me.

"I can see you make a habit of missing the point." Rick said to him.

"Yeah? Well, screw you twice." Merle replied and I gripped the gun tighter.

Rick looked at me before he pulled the trigger back and pointed it at Merle's head. "Ought to be polite to a man with a gun. Only common sense." Rick said, glaring down at the man.

"You wouldn't. you're a cop." Merle said in a raspy voice.

Rick took the gun from his head. "All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son." At the mention of Lori and Carl, a pain shot through my chest and I had to hide the fact that it hurt. "Anybody gets in the way of that or threatens her," he nodded towards me and the pain eased a bit, but still didn't go away, "is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that." Rick stared at him before he started patting him down. After digging in Merle's bag he came out with a little baggie of white powder. "Got some on your nose there." he flicked Merle's nose before he stood up.

"What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" Merle laughed, but when Rick walked to the edge and tossed the bag over Merle started freaking out. "Hey! Dude, what are you doing? Man, that's my stuff!" Rick started walking away. "If is get loose you better pray! You hear me you pig!?"

"Yeah, your voice carries." Rick said as he walked over to the edge of the building and leaned on the concrete sides.

When I saw Morales walking over to Rick I followed. "You're not Atlanta P.D. Where you from?" he asked.

"Up the road a ways." Rick answered vaguely.

Morales chuckled. "Well, Officer Friendly from up the road a ways, welcome to the big city."

Thunder clapped in the distance as Morales walked off and started talking to T-dog. Rick however turned to me with harsh eyes. "What?" I asked wondering why he was looking at me like I had done something wrong.

"Don't do that again." He said and I felt my eyes widen at his demanding tone. "Shooting at him like that, you could have gotten yourself killed." He scolded at he grabbed me by my shoulders.

"But I didn't. I gave you a chance to do something about that ass hat." I argued as I brushed his hands off of my shoulders.

He just looked at me for a second, studying me. "And I'm thankful for that, but you can't be so reckless." He said harshly.

I crossed my arms over my chest and took a step back. "Okay, fine, Boss Man." I said sarcastically as I started to walk off. But he grabbed the back piece of my riot gear and pulled me back. I just glared up at him as he moved to stand in front of me.

"Don't get mad at me." he said with pleading eyes. "I can't have you getting hurt, because…" he sighed as if it were hard for him to talk to me, "I can't lose you too and by shooting at him you've put a target on your back." Now understanding why he was acting the way he was I blinked up at him and placed my hand on his arm that was holding my shoulder. "I'm just trying to protect you, okay?" he asked.

I nodded up at him not being able to find the right words. When he jerked his head to the side and started walking I followed him. "Keep trying." We heard Morales tell T-Dog who had a CB in his hands.

"Why? There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing." Andrea said before he glared at Rick and me then walked off.

"Got some people outside the city is all." Morales spoke up. "There's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream.

"Then she's right. We're on our own." Rick spoke up with a look at me before he looked around at the others. "It's up to us to find a way out."

"Good luck with that." Merle spoke up. "These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear." He uselessly pointed out and I felt like telling him to shut up, but Rick was giving me a pointed look that specifically told me to keep my mouth shut. "Ain't that right, sugar tits?" Merle asked Andrea. "Hey, honeybunch, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies?" Andrea just looked at him then kept digging in her pack. "Gonna die anyway."

"I'd rather." She answered as she zipped up the bag and walked away. "Rug muncher. I figured as much."

I looked away from Merle before he decided to proposition me and took a step closer to Rick as Morales spoke up. "The streets ain't safe. Now that's an understatement."

"What about under the streets? The sewers?" Rick asked and I wrinkled my nose. First a horse, then a druggie red neck, now sewers? What else was I going to have to deal with today?

I watched as Glenn ran across the building to check for manhole covers. When he didn't see any the dark skinned woman who's name I still didn't know suggested that there might be a way into the sewers though the basement. Apparently she worked in the city zoning office.

Not wanting to stay on the roof with T-Dog and Merle I headed down to the basement with the others. "It's the only thing in the building that goes down." Glenn explained, having been the one who had searched this place from top to bottom. "but I've never gone down it. Who'd want to right?" he asked and we all looked at him. "Oh, Great."

"We'll be right behind you." Andrea said.

"No, you won't." Glenn replied quickly. "Not you."

"Why not me? Think I can't?" Andrea asked making me roll my eyes. "You have a problem?" she asked me having seen my eyes roll. I was about to tell her that she was acting like one of the extreme feminist's that made me want to punch them in the face, but Rick gave me an look and I shook my head no.

"I wasn't…" Glenn started but didn't finish.

"Speak your mind." Rick told him.

Glenn turned his gaze back on Andrea. "Look, until now I always came here by myself. In and out, grab a few things, no problem. The first time I bring a group, everything goes to hell. No offense." He added just for Andrea I'm sure. "If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine, but only if we do it my way. It's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed. I'll take one person." He said and Rick stepped up. "Not you either. You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you and Joanna were out in that store watching those doors covering our ass." He said with a look at me and I nodded. He then pointed at Andrea, "You've got the only other gun, so you should go with them." He then pointed at Morales, "You be my wingman. Jacqui stays here." Okay so the woman who worked in the zoning office's name was Jacqui. "Something happens yell down to us get us back up here in a hurry." Jacqui nodded.

"Okay, everybody knows their jobs." Rick said as he patted Glenn on the back. Rick and I watched them climb down, then the three of us headed to the store to watch the doors. "Sorry for the gun in your face." Andrea apologized as we headed slowly to the doors.

"It's fine." I offered.

"People do things when they're afraid." Rick added.

"Not that it was entirely unjustified. You two did get us into this." she added.

I rolled my eyes and bit my tongue, trying not to snap at her and piss Rick off for doing so. He saw my attempts to not flip out on her. "If I get us out will that make up for it?" Rick asked as Andrea walked around the jewelry counter, browsing.

"No. but it'd be a start." She said.

This woman was making a hard situation harder than it should be and it was pissing me off. I needed to get away from her. "Do you two have this covered? I need to do a little shopping." I asked and Rick gave me a questioning look. "You're wife's clothes aren't my style and frankly they're uncomfortable." I explained and Rick nodded while Andrea rolled her eyes.

With Rick's permission I started walking around shoving clothes that I liked into the bag as I headed over to the underwear and bras. I grabbed a pack if panties and shoved them into my bag then grabbed a few different bra's not having the time to try them on. To take a few seconds to cool off I crouched down behind a rack of clothes. I closed my eyes and took a few breaths. I was standing back up when I bumped into Rick and almost fell, but managed to catch my footing. He pushed me behind a shelf of jeans so we could talk in private. "Are you okay?" he asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, but that bitch is pressing every button I have." I whispered.

"Try your best to ignore her, okay?" he asked and I nodded. "Don't punch her until we get out of here." He said with a smile that instantly eased some of the tension I was feeling. "Come here." He whispered as he pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and placed my head in the bend of his neck. When we pulled back I placed a light kiss on his lips, not knowing if it was okay for me to do so.

But when he deepened it, I knew that it was okay. I was breathless when the kiss broke and I looked around me. "We should probably get back out there before Andrea starts to wonder." I suggested and he stepped back as he nodded. We walked back to the jewelry counter side by side. When Andrea looked at me I chose to take a higher road than punching. "Hey, next time you hold someone at gunpoint you should take the safety off. It's not intimidating otherwise."

Andrea looked down at it sheepishly. "Is that your gun?" Rick asked as he tucked his into his belt.

"It was a gift, why?" she answered defensively.

Rick walked over to her and held his hand out for it. She gave it to him and he flicked the safety on. "Little red dot means it ready to fire. You may have occasion to use it." He handed her the gun then glanced back at me. I was giving him a look that asked why he told her that. "Just, not on my friend here." He added as he took a step back and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"No promises." Andrea answered seriously and Rick sighed.

"Can I punch her now?" I asked Rick earning a glare from Andrea.

"Come on." Rick said as he directed me further away from Andrea. Things were quiet for a while as both of us women turned out eyes to the glass cases and displays. Andrea hummed as she found something she liked. "Find something you like?" Rick asked as he walked over to her.

"Not me, but I know someone who would." She answered as she looked up at Rick. "My sister."

"Oh, great there's two of you." I said under my breath and the growling of the walkers kept them from hearing.

"She's still such a kid in some ways. Unicorns, dragons, she's into all that stuff. But mermaids…they rule. She loves mermaids." Andrea said and while I didn't like her and had never met her sister, I could tell she loved her.

"Why not take it?" Rick asked and I looked up at him with a smile on my face. He wasn't opposed to looting now.

"Because there's a cop staring at me." Andrea answered and I laughed.

"Just take it." I spoke up.

They both looked at me before she looked at Rick and asked. "Would it be considered looting?"

Rick looked at me and the clothes sticking up out of my bag and sighed. "I don't think those rules apply anymore do you?" She took it and tucked it into her pocket. A few seconds later the walker with the rock broke through the glass door and started pounding on the inner one. As we all ran to the door with our guns drawn the others came back from the basement. "What'd you find down there?" Rick asked.

"Not a way out." Morales answered.

"Great." I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. I was going to be stuck with this bitch and the dumb redneck for even longer. Knowing we needed to find another way out we headed to the roof. Merle made some dumb ass comment as we all walked past him to the edge of the roof.

After a while we started hashing out a plan. "They're drawn by sound right?" Rick asked.

"Right, like dogs, they hear a sound they come." Glenn answered.

"What else?" Rick asked making a light bulb go off in my head.

"Smell." I said as I stepped up with a smile on my face. "Rick, you asked about my jacket and I didn't answer you. It's because I didn't want to admit that I butchered a poor dead woman and slathered her all over it." I explained as I stepped into the middle of the group.

"Whoa!" "Excuse me?" and "Oh, gross." Were just a few of the reactions I got.

"This bitch is crazy!" Merle shouted.

"Shut up." I pointed at him then turned back to the rest of the group, mainly talking to Rick who was looking at me with creased brows. "Let me explain." I held my hands out if front of me. "Yes, they're attracted by sound, but what makes them eat you is how you smell. Alive. If you smell dead like them and don't draw attention to yourself you can walk right through them." Everyone just stared at me like I was what Merle had called me. "Look, I know it sounds crazy, but trust me, it works."

Rick sighed and stepped closer to me. "You're sure it works?" he asked.

I nodded. "Who do you think locked those walkers in the cafeteria?" I asked quietly.

He just looked at me before he took a step back and looked around at the group. "Okay, I trust her and it's all we've got, so I say let's do it." Rick's words had a sense of finality to them so we all headed down to the store. He handed everyone guns and trench coats.

"If bad idea's were an Olympic event, this would take the gold." Glenn said as Rick handed him a pair of gloves.

"He's right." Morales said, "just stop, okay? Take some time to think this through."

"How much time?" Rick asked as he handed him a trench coat. "They already got through one set of doors. That glass won't hold forever." He tossed Glenn a jacket then handed one to me.

We all put them on while T-Dog and Morales went into the alley and grabbed one of the walkers they had taken down before then dragged it inside. We all stood around while Rick grabbed an axe out of a glass case then walked around to stand in the circle looking at the dead man/walker. He handed me the crowbar he had been holding then backed up. He then ran forward and started to chop into the man, but slid to a stop, not being able to do it.

He threw the face mask he had on down with the axe and grabbed the wallet out of the man's jeans. "Wayne Dunlap." Rick read off the name that was on the id. "Georgia license. Born in 1979." He handed the id to me and I passed it to Glenn, not wanting to see the living face of man we were about to kill. "He had $28 in his pocket when he died and a picture of a pretty girl." He said then flipped the picture around. "With love, from Rachel." He read off of the back. "He used to be like us, worrying about bills or the rent or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne." He closed the wallet and tucked it back into the man's pocket then turned and picked up the axe and mask.

"One more thing." Glenn spoke up and we all looked at him. "He was an organ donor."

"I don't think this is what he had in mind." I said flatly and he shrugged.

Out of nowhere Rick hacked into the man making us all jump. I hated that he had to do this, chop someone up. I would have offered to do it myself, but I didn't want people thinking I was crazier than they already did. After all of the chopping cursing and puking was over we coated Rick and Glenn with blood and mush.

"Rick, let me go with you?" I asked and he shook his head no. "I've done it before I can do it again." I pleaded, not wanting to be left alone with these people.

"No. It's too dangerous." He told me in a hushed voice and I gave up.

As soon as he and Glenn walked out of the doors we all ran up to the roof with me leading the pack. As soon as I laid eyes on them, walking down the street, I started silently praying that they would get to the construction trucks and get the keys safely. My nerves started getting on edge when I heard more thunder clapping off in the distance and dark clouds started rolling in. "Oh, no, no, no. Please, God, don't let it rain." I prayed out loud looking up at the sky and it started raining.

"It's just a cloudburst." Morales said to me, seeing how worried I was as the rain poured down making my loose hair stick to my face. "We get 'em all the time. It'll pass real quick." He said before he put the binoculars he had, back up to his eyes.

It was hard to see from where I was, but it looked more and more like the walkers were taking interest in them and when I saw Rick slam his axe into a walker's head I knew the rain had made my plan completely void. I felt useless as I watched them climb over a fence then disappear out of sight.

I tapped the concrete railing nervously until I saw them driving down the street in one of the construction trucks. "They're leaving us." Andrea said making me glare at her.

"Rick wouldn't do that, he's gonna come back." I hissed then looked at the truck started heading our way.

It wasn't too much longer before Glenn's voice came over the CB in T-Dogs hand. "Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street…Meet us there and be ready." He instructed and we all started running to where he was talking about. I felt bad ignoring Merle's yells, but there was nothing I could do for him. I didn't have the key, T-Dog did.

As we ran through the store, walkers were starting to break the glass. When we got to the loading dock Andrea and I both grabbed the chain that would open the door. But as we waited for some sign that it was safe to open it we heard a loud alarm blaring and the screeching of tires. "What is that?" Andrea asked.

"Sounds like a car alarm to me." I answered and we kept listening as the sound got closer than eventually faded. "They stole a car to lure the walkers away." I voiced what I was sure had happened.

A few second later we heard a truck pull up outside and then a bang on the roll-up door. Andrea and I immediately started pulling on the chain, raising the door enough for us to get out. I helped load up the others bags then jumped inside the truck. We were already moving before Morales pulled the back door of the truck down. Now that we were all safe, I moved to the front and sat down in the passenger seat. "I thought I'd lost you there for a minute." I sighed and Rick reached out and placed his hand on my neck, rubbing it with his thumb.

"I dropped the damn key." I heard T-Dog say and we all looked at him. We didn't need to ask to know that he was talking about the key to the cuffs that were holding Merle to that roof.

"Where's Glenn?" Andrea asked and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"Who did you think was driving that loud ass car?" I asked and she sighed as she rested her head on Jacqui's shoulder.

Eventually Morales switched places with me so that he could guide Rick to their camp. It was only when we pulled to a stop behind an old van that people started talking. Morales patted Rick on the shoulder and looked at me. "Come meet everybody." He told us before he got out and walked around to the back and opened the rolling door.

I didn't get out with them though. Instead I sat down in the passenger seat and looked at Rick. He was pinching the bridge of his nose. I could hear people laughing and crying, happy to have their loved ones back, but I focused on Rick. "How are you?" I asked stupidly and he just looked at me.

"The refugee center was a bust. If my family went there they're-"

"Maybe they didn't go there." I suggested and he just stared at me looking as tired and frustrated as I felt. "Maybe they went someplace else. These people might know something." I suggested, making my voice overly cheerful in a pointless attempt to make him feel better.

He brushed my still wet hair back behind my ear then let his hand rest on my neck. "Maybe." He sighed, knowing I was just making shit up to make him feel better.

"Hey, helicopter couple!" We heard Morales yell at us and I couldn't help but smirk at his nickname for us. "Come say hello."

I got out of the car and walked around to his side to see him still sitting behind the wheel with the door open. "Come on, I'm sure they won't bite." I joked and he hesitantly got out of the car and placed his hand on my lower back as we walked over to the scattered people. I looked at a few of their faces as we walked and my eyes stopped on a man that was staring at Rick as if he'd seen a ghost. "Someone you know?" I asked and when Rick stopped walking I looked past the other people to see Lori, kneeling on the ground in front of Carl.

Rick started walking fast over to the kid that started yelling "Dad! Dad!" Rick fell to his knees and embraced the boy. However, when I looked up at Lori she didn't look happy to see her husband and she didn't look shocked. Instead she looked pissed, but as Rick neared her, her expression changed and she embraced him and their son.

I knew what they were feeling, relief, happiness, joy, stunned in the best way possible. But me? I had no clue as to what emotions were flying through my head as I stood back away from everyone else taking in the moment. All I knew was that Rick no longer needed me and that hurt. On top of this I felt an invisible weight on my chest. I was about to have a panic attack in front of the whole freaking camp. Everything that I had just been through and _now_ my body chose to defy me? I needed to get away.

I had turned around and started walking back to the truck when I heard Morales call "Hey, Joanna, where you goin'?"

"I need a minute." I called before I disappeared behind the truck, hopped up inside and pulled the door down. Once hidden I pulled my knees to my chest and tucked my head between them. I didn't cry. I just focused on my breathing until I got it under control and fended off the panic attack that I'd felt coming on.

I had just gotten my breathing under control when I heard the driver's side door open. But I didn't look, I just kept my head tucked between my knees. The door shut and I heard boots walking towards me. "Hey," I heard Rick whisper and when I didn't look up at him he grabbed my chin and made me. "Why now?" he asked knowing that I either just had a panic attack or was trying to keep myself from having one.

"I said that I thought I'd lost you earlier?" I asked and he nodded. "Now I know I've lost you." I felt like crying, but didn't. I shouldn't. He wasn't mine to loose and I knew it. But if he wasn't mine then why did I feel like he was? Why did I feel like he had just been ripped away from me?

"You haven't lost me I'm right here." I just stared at him, giving him a look that told him that wasn't what I was talking about. "I'll always be your friend."

I laughed a sarcastic cynical laugh. "Friends?" I asked and he nodded while looking me dead in the eyes. "Do friends do this?" I asked as I leaned up and pressed my lips to his. He tensed for a split second, but after that he placed his hands on my face, pushing some of my damp hair out of my face as he kissed me back. It was more heated and emotional than any of our other kisses and when he pulled back and looked at me, tears were slipping down my cheeks.

He wiped them away. "I'm sorry." He whispered, brushing my hair back out of my face. "I care for you I do, but I can't…" he trailed off with a look out of the front glass of the van.

I took his hands off of my face and stood up. "You can't leave your wife." I finished the sentence for him "I get it and I'm not asking you to. It just hurts having to let you go." I took a step back and wiped my fingers across my face before I wiped the wetness onto my pants.

"I'm sorry." He said again with his hands on his hips.

"I know you are and it's okay." I sighed, not being able to look him in the eyes. "I guess I should go meet everybody huh?" I asked.

"Yeah, probably." He nodded.

I took a deep breath then let it out slowly. I brushed my hair back behind my ears, trying to hide the havoc that the rain had reeked on it then straightened my shirt, well, Lori's shirt. "How do I look?" I asked, knowing that I would be making some first impressions here that would matter to people in the long run. Like Lori and Carl. I wanted Ricks family to like me regardless.

"Beautiful, like always." Rick answered making me look up at and make eye contact, something I was trying not to do for fear of my emotions getting away from me.

"Stop. You can't say things like that." I scolded.

"Sorry. Just had to get it out while I still could." He apologized and I couldn't help but smile at him. "You ready?" he asked and I nodded.

He pulled the door open and he jumped down then gave me a hand down. We didn't touch as we walked around the van to be greeted by many different faces. Morales was standing with woman that I assumed was his wife and a little girl and boy stood in front of them. Andrea stood with a girl in a pink tank top who was also blond and favored Andrea, so I assumed it was he sister.

"I hear you helped my friend here get out of the hospital." A man with an authoritative voice, poufy dark hair and a 22 hanging around his neck walked over to me and held out his hand. "I'm Shane." He introduced himself.

"Uh, yeah." I stuttered as I gently placed my hand in his and he gave it a light shake and squeeze. "Joanna." I said stunned to have someone in my space. I took a step back and I let go of his hand and crossed my arms over my chest. As he backed off my eyes went to Rick who had left my side to stand with his family. "Hi, Lori, Carl. I've…heard a lot about you." I said with and awkward wave. Lori just gave me a tight smile and nod while Carl full on smiled at me.

"You saved my dad?" he asked in amazement making me laugh a tight, nervous laugh.

"I don't know about saved, there buddy. All I did was keep him hydrated and change his bandage regularly." I said and Rick gave me an encouraging smile.

"Okay, well," Shane stepped into my view then began pointing to people. "That there is Dale." he pointed to an older man with a fishing cap on and the man waved at me. "Then there's Amy," he pointed to the girl still hugging Andrea and she smiled and waved, "that's Jim." He pointed to a tall, skinny man in a baseball hat with a beard who didn't give me much greeting. "Carol, Sophia, Ed." He pointed to a sickly looking woman with really short salt and pepper hair who was standing with a little girl and a fat guy with a beard and a cigarette in his mouth. "Say away from Ed, he's not too friendly." He warned as he leaned closer to me. "Then you've already met Morales, that his wife Miranda and his kids Eliza and Louis." I smiled and waved at all the new faces as he pointed to them. "There's some more people hanging around here somewhere, but I'm sure you'll eventually meet them." He said turning to face me.

"Nice to meet you all." I said with a tight smile to all the people looking at me. "Sorry for running off earlier." I apologized to them all. "I've kinda been by myself for the past three weeks seeing as how Rick was in a coma. So you can imagine that seeing all of you is a little overwhelming." I laughed and a few other people laughed with me.

"And it seems like you and Rick have had a long day." Shane said with a look down at me before he turned his gaze onto everyone else. "So why don't we leave Rick to his family and get Joanna a place to sleep tonight?" Shane asked and the people started scattering. "We have an extra tent around her somewhere." He said to me. "Make yourself at home while I hunt it down for you." he instructed before he walked off.

I saw a fire ring in front of the RV sitting in the middle of camp so I walked over to it and the few people sitting around it. A few people looked at me, but otherwise ignored me, making me feel unwanted. I was about to wander off to be alone with Shane walked up with a square green bag with the picture of a red and white tent on the side of it. "Thanks." I said giving him a tight smile.

"Set it up where ever you would like as long as it within shouting distance." He instructed before quickly walking off to talk to other people.

"Okay, can do." I said under my breath as I started looking around for a place to set up my tent. When I saw Rick and his family duck into a big tent I decided I wanted to get as far away from him and possible. So I took a left and walked along the rows of tents until a came to the end. With I sigh I tossed the tent down and got to work. It wasn't fun putting up a tent with not help, but I managed it and when I was done I ducked inside and sat down in the middle. I had been sitting there for a while, staring out the door flap that I had rolled back and tied closed, watching the day turn to night when Jacqui stuck her head in with a lamp in her hand.. "Hi." I greeted.

"Hey, everyone washes up at the lake at night, no peeping eyes and all that." She explained. "Everyone's decided that you and Rick can go first tonight. Rick said you could go first."

"I, uh," I pulled my bag off of my shoulders and dug out some clean clothes that I had taken from the department store. "I don't have any towels or soap or anything." I said as I stood up and followed her out of the tent with clothes in my hands.

"We have some you can use." She said as she waved me off and leaned into a tent that I assumed was hers. When she leaned back up she had a towel and a bottle of shampoo and body wash in her hands. She held it out to me and I took it. "Us women usually walk there in pairs, just in case we come across a walker. Do you want me to walk with you?" he asked.

"Thanks, but no thanks." I said with a tight smile. "Just point me in the right direction?" I asked and she pointed me to a path that sloped down. "Thanks, I appreciate it." I told her with a nod before I started down to the lake.

The water was cold, but the bath was nice and I felt a lot better, calmer and collected, after I was clean and in some clothes that were of my own choosing. The department store didn't have any yoga pants in my size so I wore black skinny jeans instead with a purple under armour racer back tank top that clung to my torso. When I was making my way back to camp I passed Carl and Rick on their way down to bathe. I saw Rick's eyes take in my clothing choice and wet hair with a smile. "Hi, Joanna." Carl greeted and I smiled down at him in the light of the lanterns we held.

"Hi, Carl. Watch your daddy's back down there okay?" I asked and he smiled as we passed.

When I got back to camp people were waiting around with their shower stuff in their hands. My hair hanging down in my face was getting on my nerves, so I headed over to Jacqui. "Would you or any of the other girls happen to have a couple of bobby pins or little clippie or something?" I asked.

"Here." Amy said and I looked over to see her pull a little pink case out of her bag and open it up. She handed me two bobby pins and I took them.

"Thanks." I told her before I pulled the top half of my wet, bob cut hair up into a bump and pinned it in place. "God it feels good to get that out of my face." I sighed with a smile of thanks at Amy who smiled at me.

It was quiet as people came and went from the lake and when everyone was done we gathered around the fire that Dale hand started heating a few cans of beef stew over. By the time I got to the fire, all of the bench seats that had been taken from the van were taken. So I sat down in one of the few spots left, next to Shane. He smiled at me before he turned to Rick and Lori who sat with Carl on the other side of the fire. "How did you get out of there man? Tell us your story." Shane asked.

"Yeah, how did it feel waking up to all this?" Dale asked.

Rick looked at me before he started talking. "I was disoriented." Rick said then turned his eyes to Shane then Lori and Carl. "I guess that comes closest to summing it up. Disoriented. Fear, confusion… All of those things but, disoriented comes closest."

"Words can be meager things." Dale said as he sat his metal cup on the ground. "Sometimes they fall short."

"I felt like I had been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else with a…" Rick said as he motioned to me. "Guardian angel." He said as he let his hand fall to rest on Carl who was lying in his lap. I could tell he was controlling what he was saying about me around Lori and I didn't blame him, but it hurt that he couldn't speak his mind "For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream. Something I might not wake up from, ever." He said as he looked across the fire at noting in particular.

"Mom said you died." Carl said and Lori placed her hand on his head, brushing his hair aside as she looked at Rick, speechless.

"She had every reason to believe that." Rick replied as he placed his hand on his sons face. "Don't you ever doubt that." He looked at Shane then, shifted his eyes to me. "Without Joanna's help I probably would have."

I looked away from Rick when I felt a pair of eyes on me and followed the feeling to Lori. I expected her to say, "Thank you for bringing him back to us" or something along those lines, but no. She just looked back at Rick and started talking to him. "When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta, and it never happened."

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell." He said and Lori rested her head over on Ricks shoulder as she sent a look my way. "And from what Joanna has said that hospital we were in got overrun."

"Well, Joanna's right. I barely got them out, so…ya know?" Shane said, but I didn't look at him or Rick or even Lori. I just stared down at the ground thinking I wanted to be anywhere but here right now.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane." It was these words from Rick that made me look up at Lori, thinking this would prompt a thank you from her. "I can't begin to express it." Instead she tucked her chin and looked down. I looked to Shane to see his Adam's apple bounce with a shaky swallow. Was something up with those two? I brushed it aside as a coincidence and looked back to Lori. Still nothing.

"There go those words falllin' short again." Dale said and I looked back down at my hands. "Paltry things."

I jumped at a loud sound and looked over to see that Ed had tossed another log on his and Carol's fire. "Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?" Shane asked.

"It's cold, man." Ed said and I looked up to se Carol shift nervously.

"Cold don't change the rules, does it?" Shane asked, with a pissed look on his face. "Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?" Shane asked and I looked to Rick before I turned my eyes to Ed.

"I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for one." Ed said.

Shane got up and T-Dog reached to stop him, but Shane kept going. I couldn't hear what else he said when he got to their fire, but Ed made Carol take the log out and Shane stomped it out.

As Shane sat down I looked back down at my hands and the conversation turned to Merle and what was to be said to his brother, Daryl, when he got back from his hunting trip. "I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me." T-Dog spoke up.

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Rick said and I looked up at him like he was stupid.

"If we're assigning blame here it's on me." I said making them all look at me, but I looked only at Rick. "I'm the one that shot at his feet. I practically made you cuff him so I should tell him." I argued.

"Guys," Glenn said getting our attention, "it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race and sex into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy."

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him." T-Dog said and I looked at him. It was written all over his face how guilty he felt for dropping the key to the cuffs.

"We could lie." Amy spoke up and I shook my head. Andrea was right, she was kinda childish.

"Or tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." She said before she looked at Lori. "You husband and his friend did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind it is nobody's fault but Merle's."

"And that's what we tell Daryl?" Dale asked. "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?" Dale asked Andrea who just shook her head. "Word to the wise, we're gonna have our hands full when Daryl gets back from this hunt." Dale said.

"I was scared and I ran." T-Dog spoke up. "I'm not ashamed of it."

"We were all scared." Andrea argued, "We all ran. What's your point?"

"I stopped long enough to chain that door." he said making me give him a questioning look that he didn't see. "Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that. Not that chain, not that padlock." He said as he stared down at the ground then looked back up at everyone. "My point: Dixons alive and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us." He said with a look at me and Rick before he got up and walked away.

I looked to Rick to see that he had a disgusted look on his face as he looked around then his eyes landed on mine as Lori pressed her head to his shoulder. We had to go back for him. Letting a man, no matter how disgusting of a human being he was, die of exposure and heat exhaustion wasn't sitting right with me. I shook my head as I got up from the fire and headed to my tent. As I walked I looked back to see everyone else doing the same.

As I ducked inside I realized that I didn't have a cot or a blanket, not even a sleeping bag. So I headed back out to find someone to ask about borrowing a blanket. Everyone had turned in except Shane, who was sitting in a lawn chair on top of the Rv. So I headed over to it and climbed up the ladder. He didn't even hear me. He was too busy staring at Lori and Rick's tent. "You stare any harder at the side of that tent and it's gonna burst into flames." I said making him jump and turn to look at me.

"Hey, what are you doin' up here?" he asked as he turned with a stretch to look at me.

"All you gave me was a tent. I don't have a sleeping bag or even a blanket to sleep on. I came to ask if there were any extras." I explained not looking at him, but at the tent as well.

"Now you're the one who's staring." Shane said and I shook away all jealous thoughts as I looked over to see that Shane had stood up and was studying me.

"Yeah, well…" I sighed not finishing my sentence.

"Come on. I've got an extra ot and sleeping bag in my jeep." He said as he walked by me and started down the ladder. I waited for him to get to the bottom before I climbed down then followed him to his jeep. He leaned over the side and felt around until he pulled out a cot and rolled up sleeping bag. "Here." He handed them to me and I took them with a tight smile that he could see in the bright moon light. "Need anything else? I'm supposed to be on watch." He asked.

I shook my head. "No. Thanks." I told him with a nod that he returned before I headed back to my tent. On my way I walked past Rick and Lori's tent. Smacking and heavy breathing hit my ears making my heart leap up into my throat. They were having sex. _"He's not yours."_ I told myself. _"You linger here any longer you're gonna be hitting staler status."_ I scoffed internally and made my feet start moving and keep doing so until I reached my tent.

With a foggy head I took the cot out of the box it was in and started trying to figure it out. After fighting with the stupid thing for what felt like forever I kicked it to the other side of the tent and rolled the sleeping bag out. With a huff I slid inside of it and turned off the lamp that Jacqui had given me and tried to get some sleep. It took some time before my body calmed and sleep took me away.


	4. Chapter 4: Enemies

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter one.

 **The Revelation of The Other Woman.**

 **Chapter four:** Enemies.

The next morning I woke up as soon as the sun came through the canvas of the tent, busting me in the eyes. After wiping the sleep out of my eyes and resituating the bobby pins in my hair I ducked out of the tent and looked around with a stretch. Not very many people were awake, just Dale and a few others that I hadn't met yet. So I headed over to him where he was stoking up the fire from the night before. "Morning, Dale." I said and he returned the greeting. "Hey, is there anything that needs to be done around here? Anything I can do?" I asked.

"Yeah, there's some baskets of clothes over there that need to be taken down to the lake and washed." He said as he pointed to a washboard that was sitting in a plastic storage bin along with a pile of clothes and some detergent. I didn't know whose clothes they were, but if that was what he asked me to do to pay them back for their hospitality, then I would do it.

So I picked up the bin and headed down to the lake. I was the only person there and I had finished washing and rinsing the clothes and was headed back up the path when I passed Andrea, Amy and Jacqui who were on their way down with plastic bins in their hands. "You must've woke up early." Amy said as we passed. I didn't know what to say to that. So I just laughed and kept on walking.

When I got back to camp I asked Dale where I could hang up the clothes and he pointed me to a line that had been made at the rear of his Rv. I had hung a few things up to dry when Lori came over. "Need some help?" she asked.

"Sure." I replied and just kept pinning things on the line.

"How'd you sleep?" she asked as she pinned an old blue shirt on the line.

"Not that good, pretty sure I slept on a root." I answered.

"No one gave you a cot?" she asked as she hung up a pair of pants.

"Shane did, but the cot and I got in a fight…it won."

She laughed. "Yeah, those things can be a pain."

"How about you, how did you sleep?" I asked feeling the need to be nice since she was, for some strange reason, being nice to me.

"Oh I slept great. Better than in a long time." She answered and rather she was meaning to or not her tone made it feel like she was rubbing it in my face that she slept next to Rick and I didn't.

"Good. I'm happy for you." It came out unintentionally sarcastic and I bit my lip at the slip.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked as she stopped what she was doing and turned to me.

"That I'm happy Rick and I found you guys. He was a nervous wreck without y'all." I said sounding like I genuinely meant it, even to my own ears. Truth was I really did mean it. I had no idea what was going on with Rick and me, but he really did need his family.

She let it drop and I was thankful that we were now working without talking. We were almost done hanging the clothes up when Rick started walking over. "Morning, Officer." Lori greeted with a flirty smile that made me want to gag. Just because I was happy for him didn't mean I liked it.

"Hey." He said, before he turned his sleepy smile on me. "Morning, Joanna."

I gave him a silent nod before I turned my back on them and started hanging the last of the clothes. "You sleep okay?" I heard Lori ask.

"Better than in a long time." Rick answered and I looked over my shoulder at Lori. She flashed me a snarky smirk as she laughed.

"Well, I didn't want to wake you. I figured you could use it." she said with a smile in her voice. I didn't hear Rick say anything then she said, "God. What?"

"I've been thinking." Rick said. "About the man we left behind."

"You're not serious." Lori said before she grabbed more clothes out of the tote. How could she think that Rick hadn't been thinking about that? I could tell by the look on his face last night, as soon as T-Dog said Merle was still alive up there, Rick wanted to go get him. I know I wanted to. How could anyone leave a human on a roof do die like a trapped animal?

Everyone's attention was pulled to Shane as he drove up in his jeep. "Water's here y'all. Just a reminder to boil before use."

I turned my back on Rick and Lori again, eavesdropping even though it wasn't really considered eavesdropping if they were openly talking three feet away from me. "Are you asking me or telling me?" I heard her ask.

Rick sighed, "Asking."

"Well, I think it's crazy." Lori's answer angered me to say the least and I gritted my teeth in an attempt to keep my mouth shut. "I mean, I think it's just the stupidest way to break your son's hea-" but she didn't finish what she was saying because screaming kids in the distance cut her off.

All three of us along with some other camp members started running toward the screams. Lori grabbed Carl as soon as she saw him, but I kept going, following the others to what had caused the commotion. A walker was kneeled down, eating his breakfast of fresh deer. Shane, Rick, Jim, Glenn and I were the first ones on the scene and we all circled it. I motioned for Rick to give me the big crowbar in his hands, but he shook his head no. "It's just one, I can-" I started, but when the walkers stood up, smelling us all around him, the men started beating it. "Guys that's not gonna work." I tried, but they ignored me. "Guys!" I yelled, but no one listened. It was only when Dale chopped its head off with an axe that the walker stopped fighting.

They all stepped back, looking at the walker in shock.

"That's the first one we've had up here." Dale said. "They never come this far up the mountain."

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what." Jim said, but I ignored him the way they ignored me.

"I was trying to tell you people that it had to be the head." I spoke up and they finally looked at me.

But I didn't get a chance to say anything else, because we all heard a rustling in the woods and readied ourselves for another walker. But instead of a walker, a birty blond headed man with a cross bow stepped out of the woods. "Son-of-a-bitch." The guy cursed. Judging by the bow in his hands and the arrows in the dear, he was Merle's brother, Daryl. This wasn't going to be good. "That's my deer!" he yelled as he came fully out of the woods. Look at it all gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard!" he yelled as he kicked the headless walker.

Oh yeah, he was Merle's brother all right. Dale told him to, "Calm down son. That's not helping."

"What do you know about it old man?" Daryl asked and I glanced at Rick to see him rolling his eyes. "Why don't you take off that stupid hat and go back to "On golden pond"?" he asked then walked back over to the deer and started pulling out his arrows. "I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" he asked with a look around at the people. His gaze rested on me a little longer than everyone else and I didn't know if it was because I was a new face or if he was going to proposition me like his brother did Andrea. Either way I found myself taking a small step closer to Rick.

"I would not risk that." Shane answered.

"That's a damn shame." He said before he turned to all of us and adjusted the string of squirrel that was over his shoulder. "Well, I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

"We, appreciate it." I spoke up, hoping to get on his good side. He was a hunter, he could keep me fed. I had to at least try to make nice.

He just glared at me, but he didn't have a chance to say anything before the walker head that was on the ground started growling. "Come on, people. What the hell?" Daryl asked then shot the walker in the eye then pulled the bolt out. "It's gotta be the brain."

"Tried to tell y'all." I said with a motion at the head.

"Don't the rest of y'all know nothin'?" Daryl asked as he started walking away.

"Merle, jr. everybody." I said as I walked past Rick, back to the camp with everyone else.

When Shane and Rick told Daryl what happened, a fight between the three broke out. I just stood under the awning of the Rv and watched with the rest of the women. In the end Daryl lost. "To hell with all of y'all." Daryl yelled on the verge of tears. "Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him." he yelled, still sounding like he was going to cry.

"He'll show you." Lori, who was standing beside me in the doorway of the Rv spoke up. "Isn't that right?"

Rick just looked at her before he nodded and announced that he was going back. Lori looked pissed as she entered the Rv. I couldn't understand how she could put him on the spot like that then get mad when he did as she said he would. When he left to get dressed I headed to my tent and put my riot gear back on, ready to go with him. When I walked out of my tent I was met by Rick, who grabbed me by my arm pulled me into the cover of the woods. "Rick, what the hell? Let me go." I said as he pulled me along.

"Go take that off. You're not goin' with me." he said not looking at me, but at the ground.

"And why not?" I asked, crossing my heavy arms over my chest.

"You know why not." He said looking into my eyes.

"What, because there's a target on my back that only Merle can see?" I asked and he nodded. "No, you don't get to play guardian to me. Not anymore." I spat angrily. "I'm going." I stated and stared to walk off, but he grabbed my gear and pulled me back, then grabbed my shoulder and pushed me until we were behind the cover of a tree as he leaned down and kissed me. I fell into it for a split second before it registered that we could get caught and I shoved him until he stopped kissing me. Even though he had stopped he didn't let go of my arms. "Let me go." I hissed, not knowing if I meant for him to literally let go if me, to let me go with him or for him to let go of me emotionally.

He sighed and shook his head as he pressed his forehead to mine. "I can't."

"Let me go, or break it off with her." I shocked even myself with the words that came out of my mouth. I was asking him to leave his wife now? What the hell was wrong with me?

"I can't." he said again, looking me in the eyes.

"Then let go of me and don't kiss me again." I said through gritted teeth and he took his hands off of my shoulders. "I don't know what's going on between us, but whatever it is…" I said, looking back and forth between his blue eyes. "Whatever it is has to stop. I think you are an honest, loyal man but…if we keep doing this, keep kissing behind _Her_ back, then everything I like about you is gone." I said, talking with my hands.

Rick nodded as he sighed and looked at the ground with his hands on his hips. "Okay. You're right, I have to stop. I don't want to, but I will." He said before he looked at me and gave me a stern nod.

"I'm going with you." I changed the subject and he glared down at me. "I can't just sit back and let a man die."

"No." Rick stated again. "I want you to say here for the same reason I want Lori to stay here."

"I'm not some weak, bitchy, housewife, Rick. I can hold my own out there and you know it."

"Don't talk about her like that." He scolded me with a pointed look and I rolled my eyes. "Would you just stay here and keep yourself safe? Please?"

I just stared at him before all fight left me and I sighed, "Fine." He gave me a smile. "But only because you said please." He nodded then took a step back. "You're not just goin' after Merle… are you?" I asked even though Merle was plenty reason to go back. "You're gonna get those guns we dropped?" I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the tree.

"Guns _I_ dropped." Rick corrected. "I dropped the guns, I cuffed Merle. You have nothing to go back for."

"But you're gonna get them right?" I asked and he just looked at me. "Walkers are starting to make their way up the mountain. We need those guns for protection."

"Yeah, I plan on getting them if I can." He said. "I'm not gonna let those things get you or Lori and Carl."

"Okay." I told him before I started walking off. He followed me out of the woods and when I ducked into my tent he kept on going.

When I got back to where the rest of the group was at in front of the RV I saw Rick walking away from Shane. "Could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?"

"Hey." Daryl said, pointing at Shane with an arrow. "Choose your words more carefully."

"Oh no I did. Douche bag's what I meant." Shane said. "Merle Dixon…the guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst.

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst… _me._ Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being." Rick said then started walking away.

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asked from where she was kneeled down by the fire next to Carl.

Rick turned to Glenn, giving him a look that asked him to come along. "Oh, come on." Glenn said with a shake of his head.

"You know the way. You've been there before in and out, no problem. You said so yourself." Rick said and Glenn ran his hand through his hair before he put his hat back on. "It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I would feel a lot better with you along. I know they would too." He said with a motion back at Lori and me.

"That's just great." Shane said. "Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?"

"Four." T-Dog spoke up getting a rise out of the racist Daryl Dixon.

"That's four." Dale spoke up.

"It's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick." Shane spoke up. "Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need them here. We need them to protect camp."

"I hear what you're saying, Shane. I'm sure Rick does too, but answer me this. What are able bodies without weapons?" I asked as I stepped up to stand a few feet away from the two men.

"We have weapons." Shane argued.

"Not good ones." I argued back.

"What's your point?" Shane asked with a glare at me.

"The guns." Glenn spoke up realizing what I was talking about.

"Wait, what guns?" Shane asked with an exhausted look at Rick.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns." Rick answered. "I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left."

"We dropped the bag when we got swarmed. The bag's just hangin' out in the street ripe for the pickin'." I said.

Shane looked from me to Rick. "Ammo?"

"700 rounds, assorted." Rick answered.

"You went through hell to find us." Lori spoke up. "You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?"

"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl spoke up and Rick looked over his shoulder at them.

"To hell with the guns, Shane is right. Merle Dixon?" Lori practically yelled. "He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." she stood up as Rick walked over to her. "Tell me, make me understand."

"Joanna and I owe a debt to a man we met and his little boy." Rick said and she opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted her. "Lori, they said they would follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn them."

"What's stopping you?" Lori asked.

I shifted my weight on my feet trying to keep my mouth shut when it came to how Lori was treating Rick. "The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer."

"Is it our walkies?" Shane asked and Rick told him yes.

"So use the CB. What's wrong with that?" Andrea asked.

"The CB's fine. It's the walkies that suck their crap, date back to the 70's, don't match any other bandwidth, not even the scanners in our cars." Shane explained. I had completely forgotten about Rick's plans with Morgan.

"I need that bag." He told her and she just looked at him before he moved to kneel down in front of Carl. "Okay?" he asked his son who just nodded.

Now that that conversation was over I walked over to the RV and plopped down in the lawn chair that sat under the awning. Rick and the others started gathering the things they would need for the trip. I heard a horn honk and Daryl yelling for people to hurry up. When I looked up I saw Rick and Shane talking then Rick headed over to the passenger side of the van.

Thinking that this might be the last time I saw him, that he might not come back alive I found myself running after him. "Hey, Rick." I called after him and he stopped with one leg already in the van. "Um," I stumbled for words not knowing what was safe to say to him in front of the others. "Come… Come back in one piece, okay?"

He gave me a tight lipped nod then climbed into the already cranked van and they sped off. When the van was gone I turned to see Lori giving me a weird look. So I ducked my head and walked out of sight. I just walked, not knowing exactly where I was going until I found myself at the lake. Since I was there and the only person I gave a damn about in this shitty world had just driven away, I climbed over the rocks until I found myself a cozy little spot to hide away from Lori's looks for a while.

I was there for a little while before I heard Shane and Carl on the other side of the big rock that hid me from everyone. They sounded like they were having a good time, playing and splashing in the water, but that was before Lori walked up and put a stop to their fun. "What did I tell you about leaving Dales sight?" I heard her ask in her usually bitchy tone.

"But Shane said we could catch frogs, remember?" Carl asked, sounding disappointed and confused by his moms change of attitude.

"It dosen't matter what Shane says. It matters what I say. Come on, back to camp. I'll be right behind you." I heard Lori say.

"I've gotta tell you. I don't think you should be taking this out on him." Shane said and I couldn't see him, but he sounded…I don't know, tired maybe.

"You don't get to tell me what to do. You lost that privilege." I heard Lori say and it made me think of what I had told Rick no more than a few hours ago. How he didn't get to be my guardian anymore.

"Lori, could you just wait up a second? I think we should talk. We haven't had a chance-" Shane started, but he was cut off.

"No, no, no. That's over too. You can tell that to the frogs." She said, sounding cold.

"Damn it Lori. Look I don't know how it appears to you…"

"How it appears to me? I'm sorry is there a gray area here? Let me dispel it." I heard her say. "You stay away from me. You stay away from my son. You don't look at him. You don't talk to him. From now on my family is off limits to you."

He was quiet for a second before he said, "Lori I don't think that's fair. I don't think I deserve-"

"Shut up. Shut up! My husband is back. He is alive." She said.

"He's my best friend. You don't think I'm happy about that?" Shane asked.

"How dare you? Why would you be? You are the one that told me he died." I heard Lori say, now she sounded totally pissed off. "You son-of-a-bitch." She scoffed under her breath then I heard her walking off.

I didn't know what to do. I mean, I didn't mean to eavesdrop on them. But their conversation had me wondering. The night after Rick and I got here Shane was giving their tent a really heavy stare and I had noticed him giving Lori longing looks when Rick wasn't looking. Did something happen between them when they thought Rick was dead? Why else would Lori think Shane wouldn't be happy about his best friend being alive?

After some thought I decided to just keep my thoughts to myself. I had to be imagining that Lori had been with Shane, hoping that she would give me real excuse to hate her as much as I did. Just one legitimate reason to openly display my hatred of her.

Really though, I was jealous of her. I didn't even really know why I was jealous. I'd only been with the conscious Rick for a few days. If I was being honest though, I would admit that I had plenty of time to fanaticize about what kind of person he was. Time to wonder if he was a good man or if he was one of the dick cops that I always wanted judo chop in the throat. Then when he woke up…he was a good man. He was what I had hoped for. I'd had time to fall for him even if it was just the idea of him that I fell for. I had slightly unfounded feelings for this married man. I understood what was going on with me, for the most part.

But what I didn't understand was how after just a few days, Rick had developed feelings for me. Feelings that seemed to be as strong as the ones I had for him. I could understand it when it was just the two of us, but after he found his wife he still kept coming to me, kissing me, making me fall for him even more. It meant one of two things. 1: Things between him and Lori were bad and had been bad for a while, going off of his answer when I asked about her at Morgan's, and he wanted to be with me, but he couldn't leave her because of Carl. Or 2: He could tell something was going on with her and Shane and he was using me to eventually get back at her.

Both of these ideas made me uncomfortable and it was giving me a headache so I decided to go see if there was anything else I could do for the group that would keep my hands and head busy with something else. I was walking past the other women doing laundry when I heard Ed yelling at them. "Now come on!" he was staring down at Andrea making me wonder what the bitch did to piss him off. "You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. Y'all don't keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking! Come on." Ed yelled.

Ed grabbed Carol's arm and Andrea tried to stop him, but all that earned was a slap to Carol's face. Seeing the fight I took off running. Shane came out of nowhere and got to Ed and jerked him away from the women then started beating him in the face. Ed didn't stand a chance. While he was beating on Ed I went to Carol, who was crying for Shane to stop. "Don't look, Carol. Just don't look." I told her while standing in her way so that she wouldn't have to see her husband getting the shit beat out of him. When Shane stopped beating Ed, Carol ran to his side, weeping. Seeing as how there was nothing else I could do here I followed behind Shane.

"Leave me alone." Shane said stubbornly when he saw me walking behind him.

"I'm not following you to follow you. I'm going back to camp." I said as I passed him.

I tucked myself into my tent and put all of my attention on setting up the cot that it was too dark to figure out before. After the thirty minutes it took to put it together I put my sleeping bag on it then laid down. To block out everyone else I pulled my half charged cell phone out of my bag put on some music, set the phone on the floor and closed my eyes.

I ended up dosing off and woke up to a dead cell phone and screaming outside. With a fast beating heart and I stumbled around in the dark until my hand landed on my pistol. When I flipped open the door flap an ugly faced walker ducked into the tent. I kicked it in the face, giving me time to aim at its head then shoot.

When I stepped out I saw walkers everywhere. Between shooting them, I saw Lori, Carl and Shane making their way to the awning of the RV. With the tent at my back I took out every walker I could see that was getting near them. One was headed right toward Shane while he was reloading so I shot it, taking it down before it could get him. He looked in my direction and made eye contact long enough to thank me.

I was reloading when I saw Rick and the others run up and started helping take down the walkers. While Rick's back was turned one was headed to him so I shot it, making him turn around. I was about to shoot another walker when I felt one touch my shoulder. I turned to take it down, but it leaned all of its weight on me pushing me to the ground. I screamed, and held it off of me with my forearm, keeping its snapping teeth inches away from my face. I screamed again, hoping someone, anyone would hear me over the rest.

I could hear Rick yelling for Lori and Carl. Tears streamed down my face as things quieted down a bit. When I screamed again I finally got a response. "Joanna!" Rick yelled.

"Rick!" I screamed, my arm muscles were getting weak and the walkers teeth were now centimeters away from my nose. "Help!" I yelled, still fighting the walker. A few seconds later the walker was shot in the head then pulled off of me. As soon as I was on my feet he pulled me to him and I threw my arms around him, sobbing into his tan shirt.

After a minute he pulled me back and looked me over "Were you bitten?" he asked and I shook my head. "Scratched?" he asked and shook my head again. "Thank god." He sighed then pulled me in for another hug.

When we pulled apart again I remembered that Lori probably just saw us hugging. So I looked from Rick to her to see that she was giving both of us a look. "If looks could kill both of us would be dead now." I quietly said to Rick who ignored me and headed over to his family.

As he gathered his family in his arms I turned to Andrea who was crying over Amy. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at the blood covered girl who I'd hoped to become friends with. Then as my eyes left the two sisters they took in all the dead walkers and camp members that littered the ground. Devastation. The camp had just undergone complete and utter devastation and I had no clue if we would be able to bounce back.

 **A/N:** Hope everyone had a very happy thanksgiving and ate way too much like I did. I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who has followed, favorite and reviewed. I have really been enjoying the reviews that I've gotten for this story. I've never written a Rick/Oc story before and I'm so afraid that I'm going to make him out of character or something. Oh and imlovinfanfic to answer the question in your first review, Joanna is 27. I haven't found a way to incorporate that into the story yet.


	5. Chapter 5: Road trip

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter one.

 **The Revelation of The Other Woman.**

 **Chapter five:** Road Trip.

All of the death that I had just witnessed slammed into me like a brick wall, making my heart speed up and my head to start swimming. I had to bend down and place my hands on my knees to steady myself. "Joanna, you okay?" I heard Rick ask.

I was about to tell him no when Lori spoke up. "She's fine, Rick. She's probably just sick to her stomach like the rest of us."

I wanted to tell her to kiss my ass, but the only thing I could focus on was controlling my breathing. "Joanna." Rick said and I could feel his hand on my back.

Knowing that Lori was watching, I brushed his hand off of me and made myself walk back to my tent to have a mini attack in private. I stayed in there all night. Then when the sun came up I still didn't leave the tent. I didn't want to go out and see all of the dead bodies, but when Daryl started yelling about how we had this coming to us for leaving his brother on the roof, I decided that it was time to show my face.

By the time I got to the main area in front of the Rv I heard Jacqui say "A walker got him, a walker bit Jim." Then I watched as all the men started circling the poor guy.

T-Dog grabbed him from behind and Daryl raised Jim's shirt to show a circular bite mark on his abs. He started chanting over and over "I'm okay. I'm okay." I couldn't tell who he was trying convince, us or himself. Jim walked away and sat down behind the Rv while the rest of us formed a circle to discuss what to do. "I say we put a pick axe in his head." Daryl stated. "And the dead girls and he done with it."

"Is that what you'd want, if it were you?" Shane asked him.

"Yeah and I'd thank you while you did it." Daryl answered.

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right." Dale said.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick spoke up while looking at the ground.

"I'm not suggesting that-" Dale started…

"He is sick, he's a sick man-" Rick interrupted and Shane tried to shush him, but Rick kept talking "If we start down that road where do we draw the line?"

"The lines pretty clear." Daryl answered, "Zero tolerance for walkers or the to be."

"What if we can get him help?" Rick spoke up, making a light bulb go off in my head.

"The CDC." I said making everyone glance at me.

Then Rick started talking and they turned their eyes to him. "We heard they were working on a cure."

"I heard that too. I heard a lot of things before the world went to hell." Shane answered.

"There's probably still people there, doing their jobs… trying to find a cure for whatever this is." I spoke up and everyone looked at me.

"Man, that is a stretch right there." Shane said with a shake of his head at me.

"Why?" Rick asked before I could. "If there's any government left any…any structure at all they would protect the CDC at all costs wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot." Rick said and no one said anything. "Shelter, protection, rescue-"

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning." Shane said.

"That's a hundred miles in the opposite direction." Lori said.

"That is right. But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there." Shane said being his over authoritative self.

"I disagree. Just like the hospitals the military bases would be where people flocked to. The places people flock to are the more dangerous. If that place fell too it we would be walking straight into a hot zone." I stated receiving a glare from Shane.

"Joanna's right and the military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that." Rick said but I wasn't looking at him. Instead I was looking at Daryl and how he was glancing back at Jim. "The CDC's our best choice and Jim's only chance."

"Y'all go lookin' for aspirin. Do what ya'll need to do." Daryl said before he turned around and headed for Jim. I jumped in front of him, blocking the path of the pick axe he had raised over his head. "Move!" he shouted at me where I stood with my forearms raised to stop the axe if it came down at me.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Rick shouted as he pulled his gun, making Daryl stop. "We don't kill the living, much less innocent women." Rick said as Shane stepped between Daryl and me.

"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head." Daryl said.

"We may disagree on some things, not on this." Shane said and Daryl looked at him. "You put it down, go on."

Daryl grunted as he threw the pick axe on the ground and walked away. Rick gave me a warning look as he walked around me and over to Jim. "Come with me." Rick said as he grabbed Jim by his shoulder and wrist.

"Where are you taking me?" Jim asked with a shaky, scared voice.

"Somewhere safe." Rick answered as they walked by me and over to the Rv.

I walked over to the camp fire and sat down, placing my head in my hands. Things around here were falling apart and the group seemed to be split on where we should go now. I personally thought the CDC was the best choice. It was the most likely place to be safe. Not many people would have thought to go there. Fort Benning on the other hand would be a red zone. In my opinion any obvious place with military protection would be the first to fall.

Growling from across the fire where Andrea sat with her sister made me look up to see Amy weakly grabbing onto Andrea with an open mouth. I was half way over to them when Andrea shot her, splattering her brains across the ground. Andrea collapsed on her sister's body letting yet another wave of tears go.

I felt a few tears of my own sliding down my face as I looked over at Rick and Shane who had both place their hands on their holstered guns. Rick looked at me with questioning eyes so I wiped the tears from my face and gave him a sad smile, letting him know I was okay.

There was nothing left to do, all the men that were left were digging holes and the other women were sitting around not doing anything. So I headed back to my tent. I was half way there when Lori stepped in front of me cutting me off. "We need to talk." She stated flatly with her hands on her hips.

"Okay…" I drawled as I took a step back and crossed my arms over my chest. "What about?"

"You and my husband." She said as she shifted back and forth on her feet.

My heart beet sped up a bit. I was panicking inside. "What, what about me and Rick?" I stuttered. I didn't like confrontations, never had.

"What's goin' on between you two?" she asked staring me straight in the eyes.

As I glanced down at my feet, I thought about what was happening right now. I'd been confronted a lot in my many years as a dancer and each time I had cowered down and played doormat. Not this time, not anymore. There was no way I was going to be confronted for something I had no control over. So I squared my shoulders, stood up straight and looked her in her hateful wide eyes. "I'll tell you that the day you tell me what's going on with you and Shane." Her eyes widened further. I felt a small smirk play at the corners of my lips at her reaction.

"My personal life is none of your business." She sounded shocked.

"Nor is mine yours." I told her before I started to walk around her, but she grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop. "Let go of me." I hissed through gritted teeth as I glared at her across my shoulder.

"You are going to leave Rick alone. He is off limits to you. You will not look at him. You will not speak to him. Do you hear me?" She said as she looked down at me with glaring eyes. She was giving me the same speech she gave Shane.

"Yeah…" I sighed as I glared back at her with her hand still painfully gripping my arm. "First of all I'm only going to tell you to let go of me one more time. And second, you can't tell me what to do. Rick is my friend. You can't stop me from seeing him. You can't stop me from talking to him. Especially considering Rick wants to see me and talk to me. He wants to be my friend." I gave her a chance to say something or let go of my arm. She just kept staring at me with her unnaturally wide eyes so I kept talking. "While we are on the subject of your husband I'm just gonna ask what I've been thinking since the second I saw your face when you saw him. Are you even happy that he's back?" I asked.

"How dare you? He is the father of my son." She said looking like she was on the verge of tears.

"That's not an answer." I pointed out the obvious and her face started to redden and she gripped my arm tighter.

"He is my husband." She stated again.

"Still not an answer. You're not happy about him coming back are you?" I asked and she didn't say anything. "I mean Rick thanked Shane for taking care of you and Carl, but never, not once, did you thank me for getting him here to you in one piece. If I didn't keep that wound clean he could have got an infection and died."

"Stop talking." She warned me.

"No, you wanted to talk I'm talking. And since I mentioned Shane let's talk about him. I see the looks you give Shane, the looks he gives you. And I overheard y'all's conversation down by the lake." I let her take from that what she would. She didn't say anything in response. She just kept staring down at me with her wide eyes like she expected me to feel sorry for her. "Last time I'm telling you and if you don't listen you _will_ regret it…Let go of me."

She let go of me, but as soon as I passed and my back was to her I heard her scoff "Bitch" then she grabbed my hair and yanked as hard as she could, pulling me backwards.

I yelped and fell to the ground landing on my back. When I caught my breath I opened my eyes to see her staring down at me with a smirk on her face. "Oh hell no." I growled as I stood up and punched her square in her jaw. Next thing I knew both of us were on the ground throwing punches between pulling hair. "Hey! Knock it off!" I heard Rick growl before I was lifted off of her and set on my feet. When I looked behind me I saw that it was Rick that had his arms locked around my shoulders keeping me from his wife, who had a bloody nose, a split lip and a welt on her left cheek. I could feel my left cheek burning, but what from I had no idea.

Shane helped Lori up and held her back from me. "Someone wanna tell me what's goin' on here?" Shane asked and neither of us said anything.

Rick let me go and walked around me to stand between us with his arms held out. He looked at me first and put his hand on my shoulder before he asked, "Joanna, wanna tell me what happened?"

"Ask the ungrateful bitch." I told him as I swiped his hand off of my shoulder and started to walk off, but Shane got in my way. "Move." I warned and he just cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms over his chest. "Move, please." I said through gritted teeth, but he didn't move.

"Shane, let her go." I heard Rick say behind me and Shane stepped aside. I just walked, not knowing or caring where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to clam myself and get out of my head before the panic attack that was always waiting around the corner showed it's ugly face.

So I walked out into the woods until I hit a wall of rocks. I was as far away from the camp as I could get. Now that I was alone I pulled myself up onto one of the rocks, pulled my knees to my chest and tucked my head between them. I had been sitting there for at least thirty minutes when I felt someone touch my shoulder. I jumped and almost fell off of the rock, but Rick caught me. I pulled away from him and readjusted myself on the rock. I couldn't make myself look at him after what I had just done. "Joanna." Rick said and when I still didn't look at him he grabbed my chin and made me. "What were you thinking?" he asked in almost a whisper.

I sighed and pulled myself off of the rock to walk around him and put my back to him. "I was thinking that I was tired of the mean glares she's been giving me from day one." I said and he walked around me to look me in the eyes. "Why are you even out here? Go back to your wife and leave me alone."

"I'm out here because I'm worried about you." he answered.

I rolled my eyes. "You're worried about me?" I asked and he nodded. "Does your wife know you're out here with me, alone?" I asked with a point back to camp.

He cocked his head to the side, "No, why?"

"Did she tell you what she told me, why we started fighting?" I asked.

He shook his head no. "She wouldn't say anything."

"Her exact words were 'You are going to leave Rick alone. He is off limits to you. You will not look at him. You will not speak to him.' She told me to stay away from you, Rick and that's not happening." I said as I crossed my arms over my chest and walked around to sit back down on the rock.

"So you punched her?" he asked as he turned to look at me.

I cocked my head to the side as I looked at him. "Do you think I started it?" I asked what I was thinking.

"She said you pushed her to the ground and started punching her." he said with a hard look at me.

"That's just…classic." I said with an eye roll as I leaned back propping myself up with my forearms. "She lied to you, Rick. I didn't start it. _She_ confronted me. I was walking away from her and she pulled me back by my hair. Yeah I threw the first punch, but she's asked for it." I said then sat up and placed my elbows on my bent knees.

"It takes a lot to make Lori mad enough to pull another woman's hair." Rick said as he walked over to stand a foot away from me. "What did you say to her to make her snap?" he asked with his head tilted to the side as he looked at me through squinted eyes.

I sighed and swallowed hard. "I'm not gonna lie to you, Rick, and you're not gonna like what I said." I warned and he just kept looking at me, waiting for me to go on. "I pointed out that she still hadn't thanked me for keeping you safe until you woke up." I said.

He just shook his head once, "And that set her off?"

"No…" I sighed and I looked down at the leaf I was fiddling with. "I may have suggested that I thought she would have been happier if you hadn't come back to her." I mumbled.

"What-why?" he said as he took a few steps back from me. "Why would you say that?" he asked, astonished at me before he looked down and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger.

"Because Rick, I think she and Shane had something going on while you were gone. When they both thought you were dead." He looked up at me with wide eyes. "I overheard them talking down at the lake when you were gone looking for Merle. She told him that he didn't get to tell her what to do anymore, that he lost that privilege." I said and he just gave me a ' _so?'_ look. "Does that not remind you of something I told you when we got here? That you don't get to play guardian to me anymore. Why would she say that to him if they weren't together?" I asked.

He was quiet for a while before he shook his head at me. "You're imagining things. You're coming up with reasons for me to leave Lori, so that you and I can be together." He said not looking at me.

"Tell yourself that all you want, but I'm not a home wrecker. I wouldn't make things up and I wouldn't lie to you. Regardless of whatever feelings I have for you I wouldn't deliberately break you and your wife up. I want you to be happy and if that bi-" I started to call her a bitch, but I remembered that she was after all his wife and I needed to me as respectful of his feelings for her as I could "…if she makes you happy then…more power to you, I'll accept that. But I have to ask…" I said and he sighed getting ready for my question, "Do you have feelings for me…at all?"

He walked over to me and grabbed my head between his hands. "Of course." His whisper brushed across my lips before he gently pressed his lips to mine. When the slow kiss broke I took his hands into mine.

"Does she make you happy?" I asked with a watery eyed look into his.

He sighed and backed away to pinch the bridge of his nose again. "Yeah…" he answered quietly.

"Then, Rick, what the hell are we doin' here?" I asked with a motion between us. "You can't have two women. If you want to avoid another fight like the one today then we need to figure it out, now, today."

"I can't choose between the two of you, Jo…I can't." His use of the nickname that only my mother and sister had ever used for me, pulled at a heart string and tears started to fall.

"If you can't choose then I'm choosing for you. Go to that ungrateful, unworthy, wife of yours and leave me alone. Don't come after me when I get mad or sad or even if I'm having a panic attack. We're done Rick. We're not friends. Just…leave me alone."

"I'm not leaving you alone out here by yourself and Jacqui wanted me to tell her that we're about to bury the camp members if you want to be at the funeral. So come on."

I hesitantly followed him to the grave site where we watched a crying Andrea drag her sister into the hole that someone had dug. Then we watched as the men covered the bodies. When it was over I made sure I was as far away from Rick and his family as possible. When I got back to camp I sat down near the fire and watched the others flood in from the burial. As my eyes landed on Lori and Carl I noticed the small boy glaring at me. He probably hated me for hitting his mom. Way to get Rick's kid on my good side huh? If Carl didn't like me then that was just one more wedge between Rick and me.

When Lori came out of the Rv and sat down on the steps I turned my back on her and leaned sideways on the back of the seat. I pretended not to see Shane walk up and start whispering to Lori. I couldn't hear what they were saying and I didn't care anyway. I needed to stop thinking about Rick and started making new friends.

Eventually the few others left in the camp joined the circle around the fire pit and when Shane and Rick joined I sat up straight. "I've uh, I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no uh…there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts." I saw Lori looked up at him with a questioning look in her eyes, but I ignored it and turned my eyes back to Shane. "I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together." I tucked my hair behind my ear and leaned back against the back of the seat. "So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"

With that decided the group dispersed. As I looked across the fire at Lori where she sat with Carl between her and Rick I decided that I had to do something about our fight. Despite the fact that I stood up to her, I didn't like people being mad at me, especially if Carl was mad at me. So with a sigh I got up and walked over to them. "Carl, go hang out with Dale." Lori said thinking we were probably going to have another confrontation.

"No, he can stay. This will be quick and I want him to hear it." I said so she motioned him back over. He sat back down between her and Rick. She hugged him to her side as if I would hurt him. "I wanted to apologize." I stated, with my hands clasped together in front of me. "I shouldn't have said what I did." I wanted to look at Rick, but I made myself look only at her and Carl. "It was out of line and I'm sorry." I then looked at Carl. "I'm sorry I hit your mom. I shouldn't have done it and I wanted you to understand that hitting is never the way to solve things. Okay?"

"Yes, ma'am." He told me with a nod.

I smiled at him in response. "Okay, then…uh, y'all have a good night." I told them then started to walk away. As I walked past Rick I couldn't help but glance down at him. When I did, I saw that he was giving me that look again and this time I knew what it meant.

I ignored the butterflies that the look sent aflutter in my stomach and kept walking until I came to my tent and I ducked myself inside. After a long day like this one falling asleep was easy to do.

* * *

The next morning everyone took their tents down and packed their stuff away. We were leaving, heading to the CDC and since I still hadn't exactly made friends with anyone, I didn't know where to put my stuff. I was looking around watching people and seeing what cars they put their things in. Lori, Carl, Rick, Carol and Sophia were in one car while, Glenn, Dale, Jacqui, and Jim were in the RV. It was packed so I couldn't ride with them. Shane was in his jeep but there was no way I was riding with him. Andrea and T-Dog were in the church van and I wasn't going to ride with _her_. The last person my eyes landed on was Daryl where he was putting things in the back of his truck where a motorcycle was strapped down.

With a deep breath I picked up my bags and tent off of the ground and headed over to his truck. "Hey, Daryl?" I asked, standing across from him on the other side of the truck bed.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly and I took a step back.

"A ride." It came out sounding like a question and he stopped what he was doing to look at me. "I don't really want to ride in the same car as Andrea and you couldn't pay me to ride with Shane. All the others are full." I explained.

He chewed on his lip, thinking about it. "No, I ain't ridin' with no chatty bitch."

"Call me a bitch all you want…I don't care just…please let me ride with you." I said as I shifted my bag on my shoulder. "I won't talk your ear off, hell I won't say a word. Other than there being a butt in the seat you won't know I'm there." I said.

He bit his lip then said, "Fine, but if you start yappin' I'm tossing your ass out on the side of the road."

"Deal." I said I opened the passenger side door and started to hop inside but Shane talking made me stop.

"Hey y'all listen up." I closed the door and walked over to join the rest of the group that was standing around or sitting on the hoods of cars. I stood next to Daryl with my arms crossed over my chest. "For those of you with CBs, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a CB, can't get signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Shane asked.

"We're uh," Morales spoke up, "We're not going."

Everyone just looked at them wondering why. "We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." His wife spoke up with her arm around her son.

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane warned them.

"We'll take the chance." Morales said. "I gotta do what's best for my family."

"You sure?" Rick asked him.

"We talked about it. We're sure." Morales answered.

"All right." Rick said before he took a pistol out of the bag and gave it to Morales along with a half full box of shells. Everyone said their goodbyes and gave the family hugs before they tucked themselves into their vehicles. I hopped into the passenger seat of Daryl's truck and we took off.

A few miles out the caravan slowed to a stop and we got out to see that a hose on the Rv had busted again. "It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape." Dale explained.

"I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky." Shane who was looking around with binoculars said.

I was about to volunteer to go with him when Jacqui came out of the Rv and said, "Y'all Jim, it's bad. I don't think he can take anymore." She went back into the Rv.

"Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort?" Shane asked. "I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back." T-dog volunteered to go with him. "Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back."

Rick headed into the Rv so I headed to the back of the caravan to keep an eye out back there. When Rick came out of the Rv Shane and T-Dog drove up with a hose for the RV. Everyone gathered around to see what was up so I left my post at the back of the caravan and joined them. "Jim wants us to leave him here." Rick informed us.

"And he's lucid?" Lori asked.

Rick fiddled with his hat in his hands, "He seems to be." he rubbed his thumb over his forehead. "I would say yes."

"Back at the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood." Dale spoke up. "I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants." He said and we all just looked at him. "And I think we have an answer.

I sighed and scratched the back of my neck as I stared at the round in thought. "We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that." Shane said.

"It's not your call, either one of you." Lori spoke up.

"I never thought I would say this, but Lori's right." I said as I shifted my weight to my left foot and put my hand on my hip.

"Okay, then I guess I'll go get him." Rick sighed before he disappeared into the RV and Shane followed him.

Lori glared at me as she walked past me to lean against the back of the Rv. I just rolled my eyes and headed back to my self-assigned post at the rear of the convoy. When they came out with each of them on one side of Jim I left my post to join the others. We followed the three men until they sat Jim down to lean against a tree. Everyone said their goodbyes to Jim, but since I didn't know him and wouldn't know what to say I just gave him a nod then made my way back to Daryl's truck.

Tears slipped down my cheeks as I looked at Jim leaning against the tree looking pale and in pain. When Daryl opened his squeaky door and climbed in I quickly wiped my face. "You're not gonna boo hoo the whole ride there are ya?" he asked when he saw the tears on my face.

"No." I laughed at his question and wiped the rest of the tears off of my face. "I just hate losing people ya know?" I asked and he gave me a nod. "I even hated losing your brother. I know you could probably care less to hear this, but I am truly sorry about that." I told him honestly and he glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes, not fully taking them off of the road. If I didn't know any better I would have thought that there were tears in his eyes, but I couldn't really see them.

"Ya said ya wouldn't yap." He warned not looking at me.

"Right, sorry." I apologized, smiling to myself at his response. When he glanced from the road to me I zipped my lips shut and tossed the invisible key out of the half open window. He scoffed at my action and shook his head as he turned his eyes back to the road.

The rest of the ride was quiet as he drove and I watched the trees and broken down cars as we passed them. We only stopped when we pulled up to the CDC that was surrounded by sand bags and dead bodies. The stench of the dead bodies was worse than at the hospital. Maybe it was because the ones at the hospital were wrapped in sheets that held the smell in or something, but we all did our best not to puke at this smell. I even noticed Daryl cover his nose a few times.

When we got to what looked like the main entrance of the place, rolling steel doors were covering all three entrances. Rick and Shane tried to open them, but nothing happened. "There's nobody here." T-Dog spoke up.

Rick turned to him and asked, "Then why are the shutters down?"

No one got a chance to answer him because Daryl shouted. "Walkers!" we all looked to see him shoot the one walker that was headed our way in the head. "You led us into a grave yard!" he yelled at Rick.

"He made a call." Shane said heading over to Daryl. I turned my attention to Carol and Sophia who were crying.

"It was the wrong damn call." Daryl said and I looked from the kids to see him and Shane having a chest pushing match. Things escalated from there. People started debating on rather or not we should go to fort Benning. "Forget Fort Benning we need answers tonight, now!" Lori said and I stepped through the crowd to get closer to her.

"That kind of attitude isn't helping. How are we gonna get answers tonight when there's no one to get answers from. Demanding answers isn't going to get you any so just shut up." I told her before I turned to Rick. "Rick, there's no one here, we need to go. We'll hunker down in the cars for the night or find an empty building to stay in, but we can't stay here." He looked at me and sighed. "We'll come back in the morning, when it's safer." I suggested.

Then Shane started ushering us all back to the cars and Rick stayed behind. "The camera…it moved." I heard Rick say so I stopped and headed back over to him to see what he was talking about. Dale told him he imagined it. "It moved." Rick insisted.

"Rick, it's dead, man." Shane said moving past me to look at Rick. "It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down. Now come on." Rick told him no and refused to move. "Man, just listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead, okay? It's dead. You need to let it go, Rick."

Lori started yelling at Rick, but he ignored her. "I know you're in there. I know you can hear me." he shouted at the camera.

Shane started yelling at the rest of us, telling us to get back to the cars while Rick just continued to yell at the camera. Shane finally managed to pull Rick back, the whole time he was screaming "You're killing us! You're killing us!" Shane had basically thrown Rick back when the door slid open and a bright white light busted us in the eyes. We all froze like deer in headlights. When the bright light clicked off we let ourselves inside. I closed the glass doors behind us then looked around.

When we heard a gun cock we all pointed our guns in that direction. "Anybody infected?" a guy with blond hair, wearing a white shirt and dark jeans asked, pointing a military gun in our direction.

"One of our group was." Rick answered. "He didn't make it."

"Why are you here? What do you want?" the guy asked.

"A chance." Rick answered.

The guy stepped out from around the wall so we could see him a little better. "That's asking an awful lot these days."

"I know." Rick answered.

The guy took us all in for a minute, probably looking to see if any of us looked particularly dangerous. "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

"We can do that." Rick replied.

The guy dropped his gun. "You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." The guy warned.

So a select few of us ran back out to the cars and grabbed our bags. When we got back the doctor spoke into a speaker on the wall, "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." Rick introduced himself to the doctor, holding his hand out for a hand shake. "Doctor Edwin Jenner." He replied, not taking Rick's hand.

After that we were ushered into an elevator. "Doctors always go around packin' heat like that?" Daryl asked.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." The doctor replied. "But you look harmless enough." He said before he looked down at Carl. "Except you. I'll have to keep my eyes on you." he joked dryly and Carl smirked.

When the elevator finally stopped Jenner led us down a hallway. "Are we underground?" Carol asked.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked.

"A little." Carol replied.

"Try not to think about it." Jenner answered. The hallway ended as we walked into a large room. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." He spoke and a circle of lights flicked on illuminating a big circular room with computers in it. "Welcome to zone 5." Jenner said as he started walking again, leading us into the center of the room.

"Where is everybody?" Rick asked what I'm sure we were all thinking. "The other doctors, the staff?"

"I'm it." Jenner answered. "It's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori asked.

"Virtual intelligence is my guess." I answered as I walked to stand a little closer to Lori.

"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them, welcome." Jenner said.

A female computer voice echoed around the room, "Hello guests, welcome."

"I'm all that's left." Jenner said. I sighed and let my head fall forward. "I'm sorry."

After that he led us to a room that looked like a lecture hall where he put on gloves and took blood samples from all of us. "What's the point. If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." Andrea asked in her usual bitchy tone as he took her blood and I rolled my eyes.

"I've already broken every rule in the book by letting you in here. Let me at least be thorough." Jenner answered and when Andrea stood up she got dizzy. Jacqui had to help steady her. "Are you okay?" Jenner asked.

"She hasn't eaten in days." Jacqui answered. "None of us have."

When he finished taking our blood he led us to a dining room where Jenner served everyone spaghetti and garlic break. Along with the food, bottles of wine were passed out. "You know in Italy, children have a little wine with dinner." Dale said as he handed Lori a glass of wine. "And in France."

Lori covered Carl's glass. "Well, when Carl is in Italy or France he can have some then." She said before he took a drink of the red wine from her galss.

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on." Rick said and Lori just looked at him with a smile on her face. "Come on."

She laughed and uncovered his glass letting Dale take it and pore some in the cup. Everyone quited down to see if Carl was going to like it or not. He took a small sip and pulled back with a sour face as he said "Eww."

We all busted out laughing as Lori took his glass and pored the wine into hers. "That's my boy."

"Well, uh, just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane said.

"Not you, Glenn" Daryl said.

Glenn gave him a questioning look. "What?" he asked.

"Keep drinking, little man. I wanna see how red your face can get." Daryl said and we all started laughing.

Dale handed me a glass of wine and even thought I didn't care for the stuff I took it anyway. I wasn't a drinker, but tonight I felt like getting buzzed.

We all quieted down when Rick tapped his butter knife on his glass and stood up. "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." Rick said.

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog said as he raised his glass.

"Hear hear!" Dale cheered and we all raised our glasses.

Everyone said their thanks then Daryl chimed in with a "Booyah!" and the ones that didn't echo that just laughed, like me.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane asked, bringing down the whole mood of the group. "All the uh, the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane." Rick spoke up, trying to stop the mood from going further down. "Don't need to do this now."

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right?" Shane asked with a look at Rick. "This was your move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead we uh, we found him, found one man. Why?" Shane asked with a sideways look at Jenner.

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Jenner answered.

"Every last one?" Shane asked with his always present attitude.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They…opted out." Jenner answered. "There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea asked and I thought the answer was an obvious one. He wanted to find a cure.

"I just kept working. Hoping to do some good." Jenner answered.

It was quiet for a while before Glenn left his spot where he had been sitting on the kitchen counter to walk over and sit down in a chair. "Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." He said.

After that we all got back to eating and we were doing so in silence until Dale spoke up. "Joanna. I know a decent amount about everyone here…except you." he singled me out and I put my fork down chewing slowly on as I looked up at him. "What did you do before all of this?" he asked.

As I looked around I saw that everyone was looking at me, waiting for an answer. I swallowed my food and took a sip of wine to wash it down. "I, uh,…I was a dancer…" I answered and they all just kept looking at me. "Ballet to be exact."

"I don't believe it." Andrea spoke up.

"Yeah, I don't either." Lori added and I just glared at her.

"And why is that?" I asked.

"Because you're shorter than any dancer I've seen before." Lori explained.

"All dancers have to be tall?" I asked, getting defensive now.

"Why don't you prove them wrong?" I heard Rick speak up and I looked at him like he was crazy. "Well…" he said and I looked around to see T-Dog giving he a look that urged me to do it, Lori looked pissed, Andrea had her bitch face on. When I looked in Glenn's direction he just had a goofy smile on his face. Something told me he was a light weight. Daryl and Jacqui were looking at me like they could care less. But the others apparently wanted me to prove that I could dance. So with a sigh I walked over to my bag and pulled out my phone and it's charger.

I held them up with a look at Jenner. "Do you care if I plug this in long enough to play a song?" I asked and he shrugged and pointed to an outlet in the corner of the room. "Thanks." I told him with a tight smile as I walked over and plugged the phone in. While it was turning on I pulled my shoes off and tossed them to the side. To make a little more room I moved a bunch of chairs back. I could feel people's eyes on me the whole time. When my phone was on I pulled up the music app and clicked on "Love the Way You Lie pt. 1" by Eminem featuring Rihanna. Before it started playing I hit the pause button. "Hey, Glenn, can you do me a favor?" I asked and he got up and walked over to me. "When I give you a nod can you hit the play button?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure." He said as he took the phone from me. I walked to the center of the space and lifted my arms above my head, crossing my wrist and relaxing my fingers. I sighed and closed my eyes, clearing my head of the eyes on me, like I always did when I was performing. When I opened them I looked at Glenn and gave him a nod. He pushed play and the music started playing.

The music took over my body, turning me into is puppet as I danced to the music. I wasn't winging the dance, it was one I had choreographed for my class last year. It was a personal and class favorite, so we did it often and the fluid movements were muscle memory for me. In the middle of a pirouette I caught a fleeting image of Rick. If I wasn't mistaken he was giving me that look again. I made myself ignore the butterflies in my stomach and keep dancing. The last move landed me on my knees on the floor with my chin tucked to my chest at the exact moment the music stopped.

When I looked up and stood to my feet I was met by a blasting round of applause. Even Lori and Andrea were clapping and when I turned my eyes to Rick I felt my face redden at the look he was giving me. "Okay, I was wrong." I heard Andrea say and I looked up from unplugging my phone to see if Lori was going to say anything, but she just gave me a nod then took the last bite of her garlic bread.

"Okay, then." I heard Shane say as I sat back down and started finishing my food. The wine bottle had been passed around some more after I had danced and my one glass of wine turned into two then three.

When we were all done eating Jenner led us down another hall. "Most of the facility is powered down, including housing. So you'll have to make do here." Jenner explained and as we followed him down the hall I noticed that my head felt wishy washy and my vision was a tad blurry.

I was following in behind everyone else alongside Daryl who glanced down at me when I tripped over my own feet. "Someone's tipsy." He laughed and I told him to shut up.

"There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy." He said before he stopped walking and leaned down to talk to Carl and Sophia who were leading the group. "Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power." Then he stood up straight and started talking to us. "The same applies. If you shower go easy on the hot water." We all smiled at the idea of taking a hot shower.

As people started choosing rooms for the night I walked to the very end of the hall and chose the farthest one. I looked around the room before I went in and closed the door behind me. There wasn't much to the room, just a couch, a desk and a door that led to a bathroom. Eager to take a hot shower for the first time in days I tossed my bag onto the couch and left a trail of clothes behind as I made my way to the bathroom. Just like I'm sure everyone else was doing I turned on the hot water and stood under the warm stream.

As the water washed away some of the knots in my shoulders I realized that this was one of the everyday things in life that I took for granted. Hot water…you don't miss it until you no longer have it. However I figured I should listen to Jenner and made my shower quicker than I wanted to. When I was done I dried off and dressed in a pair of black yoga pants with a purple stripe down the sides and a dark blue racer back tank top. I wanted so badly to dry my hair with the blow dryer that hung on the wall, but Jenner asked us not to use too much electricity so I refrained. Instead I used the mirror over the sink and the two bobby pins I had to twist my bangs to the side and pin them in place.

With that done I headed back to the room and looked around. There wasn't much to do and I didn't feel like seeing who all was in the rec room so I grabbed my phone and it's charger out of my bag and plugged it in. I couldn't resist using the electricity for this purpose. As it charged I opened a bottle of wine that I had stashed in my bag and took a sip. I had turned on some music and downed a forth of the bottle when I heard a knock on my door. When I opened it Rick stumbled in. "Rick, get out." I told him, but he closed the door and locked it. "You're drunk." I stated and he just laughed as he walked over to the couch and plopped down. "You can't be here."

"I can't be here because you don't want me to be or because you think I should go to my wife?" he asked, looking at me with bloodshot eyes that I'm sure matched my own.

"It's not right for you to be alone in a room with a woman that you're not married to." I stated.

"That's a bit old fashioned don't you think?" he asked as he picked up my bottle off of the end table and took a drink.

"What I think is that you need to leave me alone and go be with your wife." I stated as I half walked half stumbled over to him and snatched to bottle from him.

"You're drunk too." He stated, but I just raised my eyebrows at him and took another drink. "You don't really want me to leave do you?" he asked as he stood from the couch and took the bottle from me. He took a drink out of it before he sat it down on the end table.

"What I want is you, but I can't have you." I stated thickly and in the back of my mind I could hear my sober self scolding me.

"Why not? I'm right here. All you have to do is reach out and take me." he said as he took a step closer to me, putting us chest to chest.

My sober self was telling me to back up and get away from him, but my drunken self told that voice to shut up. He told me to reach out and take him so I grabbed the collar of his white shirt and pulled him down to me. His lips instantly caught mine and his arms snaked around my waist, holding me to him as tightly as he could. As I relaxed into the kiss my arms slid over his shoulders to cross behind his neck. I laughed when he gripped my butt and picked me up. My legs instantly wrapped around him and he carried me over to the sofa.

He sat me down on it, leaning down over me as he did. I turned sideways as I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down so that he was now lying down, straddling me. His lips moved to my neck as he inched my shirt up. Finally I sat up and pulled it over my head then reached up and tugged his off. He gave me a drunken smile as he leaned back down and pressed his lips back to mine. This kiss was hot and sweet and I savored the feel of his hands on my bare skin as they slid down my thin sides to grip the waist band of my pants and tug them off along with my boyshorts panties.

I sat up and pushed him back so that he was now laying down then tugged off his pants and boxers. Sober me was screaming at me in the back of my head, but drunk me silenced her and focused on the amazing man that I moved to straddle. He smiled up at me as his warm hands traveled up my side then around my back to unhook my bra and pull it off. I stared into his clear blue, bloodshot eyes as he sat up and ran his hands over my shoulders. I sighed and threw my head back as he pressed his lips to my chest and bit down. "Rick." I hissed as my hand went to the back of his head and my fingers laced themselves into this hair.

When his lips left my chest he replaced them with his hand and placed his lips back on mine. He slowly leaned back, bringing me down with him before I sat up and ran my hands down his sides being extra careful of the hole on his side that was still healing. "You're so amazing." He sighed making me look into his eyes.

"I was just thinking the same thing about you." I smiled down at him before I resituated and sank down on him. We both sighed at the mind numbing sensation and when we had adjusted to the feeling Rick sat up and wrapped his arms around me as he eased me back, putting himself on top. I let out a small cry of pleasure as he started rocking his hips and he placed his mouth over mine, keeping me quiet as we rode the waves of ecstasy.

Afterwards he sat on the couch, breathing hard while I laid with my head rested in his lap. He smiled down at me tiredly and placed his hand on my forehead. "Is this really what you came in here for?" I asked sounding as tired as he looked.

"No, not really, but I'm glad this happened." He said and I smiled up at him as I grabbed a blanket off of the floor and covered myself up. "Maybe now that I've gotten you out of my system I can focus on my marriage."

At his statement I sat up and wrapped the blanket further around myself. "That's what this was about?" I asked, sounding as pissed and hurt as I felt. "Getting me out of your system?"

"No, Joanna, that…that came out wrong." He sighed before he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"No I think it came out just fine." I said as I stood up off of the couch and started putting my clothes back on. "I'm nothing, but a freakin' conquest to you."

"That's not it at all." He said as he stood up off of the couch and I threw his pants at him. He sighed and glared at me before he put his pants back on. "You misunderstood me." he said.

I placed my hands on my hips. "Then talk to me, make me understand. Because from where I'm standing it sounded like you just said that you were dropping me like a freakin' hot potato and going back to the wife that doesn't even support you. That doesn't appreciate you."

"You just sounded like Lori." He sighed, looking at me like I was crazy.

"Maybe it's because you don't talk, you don't explain yourself." I spit out, not caring that I sounded like his wife. "I have been confused as hell about you from the second she came back into your life. Do you want me? Do you not want me? Are you going to leave her or are you not going to leave her? I need answers, Rick, because I can't keep putting myself through this, thinking of myself as a home wrecker and a whore." I explained and his eyes squinted as he looked at me. "I can't keep doing whatever in the hell this is."

"I can't…I don't know…" he sighed as he stumbled around with his hand pressed to his forehead.

"Rick!" I yelled quietly making him look at me. "Talk to me."

He sighed as he closed in on me, grabbed by my shoulders and backed me up to the wall before he kissed me. "You're an amazing woman." He sighed as he pulled back from the kiss and I made myself look him in the eyes. "You've been there for me from day one, hell before day one. You've stuck by me and supported me this whole way. You've never wavered. And you're…the kindest most forgiving woman I've ever met. You apologized for a fight that you didn't even start. You surprise and intrigue the hell out of me at least once a day." He said before he rested his head on my shoulder. He sighed before he picked his head back up and looked me in the eyes again. "And you're honest, but…she's….she the mother of my son. What will he think if I leave her for you?" he asked.

My breath caught in my chest. I hadn't even thought about what effect Rick leaving Lori would have on Carl. I instantly felt like a horrible person. "Maybe he'll be able to get over it." I suggested.

Rick shook his head no. "I can't leave her. Not right now." he sighed. I moved around him and grabbed the half full bottle of wine off of the table. I was about to take a drink when I felt my stomach churn and I made a run for the bathroom. I got there just in time to puke into the toilet. "Joanna?" he asked as he walked to the door and looked in on me.

For some reason I always cried when I threw up and tonight, I actually had reason to. I had fallen for a man that wasn't available and couldn't leave his wife. I wiped my mouth and looked up at him with tears slipping down my cheeks. "Just go." I sobbed and he walked over to me and placed his hand on my back. But I swatted his hand away. "Go! I don't want you here."

He sighed and nodded as he back away then turned and walked away. I heard the door to my room open and close as he left. I spent a good part of my night puking up the disgusting wine and when I was able to I drug myself to the couch and cried myself to sleep.

 **Author's note (A/N):** Thank y'all so much for the awesome reviews and for all the favorites and follows. I appreciate them so much.


	6. Chapter 6: Hope Explodes

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter one.

 **The Revelation of The Other Woman.**

 **Chapter six:** Hope Explodes.

The next morning I woke up to a pounding head and a face caked with dried tears. So I dragged myself to the bathroom and washed my face with a clean rag out of the bathroom cabinet. As I smelled my breath and my clothes I realized that I smelled like puke and sex. I couldn't show my face to the group looking and smelling like that so I hopped in the shower and washed off the smell. Thankfully I had one more set of clean clothes, so I changed into them, a bright green tank top and a pair of black skinny jeans. Now that I looked and smelled presentable I made my way to the dining room where I hoped I could grab some breakfast. "Good morning." T-Dog greeted with a bright smile as I walked into the kitchenette.

"Shusssh" I waved him off and pulled the icebox open.

"Jenner said to make ourselves at home." He reminded me as I grabbed a jar of orange juice then a glass out of the cabinet. "Got some eggs cookin' if you want some." He said and my stomach rolled at the thought of eating eggs. He saw my frown and laughed. "Hung over huh?" he asked and I nodded. "Got some bacon here too."

"That sounds better I guess." I grumbled making him laugh as he put some eggs and bacon on a plate and handed it to me. "Thanks…"

I took my plate to the table and sat down as Lori and Carl were making their way into the room with a groaning Glenn behind them. "Don't ever, let me drink that much again." He grumbled as he sat down at the table.

I smiled despite my headache and aching stomach. Puking so much on top of dancing really gave my muscles a workout. "Looks like Glenn's not the only one who's hung over." Lori said as she looked at me, picking at my food instead of scoffing it down like I had the previous meal.

"You are…" I started as I sat up straight and took a sip of juice, "not wrong with that assumption." I sighed before I looked down at my plate.

She laughed then we ate in silence as others made their way into the room. I ignored them all and focused on getting my food down without it coming back up. I was picking at my last piece of bacon when Rick walked in. My nerves instantly went I high alert. "Are you hung over?" Carol asked as Rick sat down. "Mom said you'd be."

"Mom is right." Rick answered his son with a smile.

"Mom has that annoying habit." Lori commented with a sideways look at him.

He smirked at her before his eyes moved to me. I quickly turned my eyes to my plate and kept picking at my food. I didn't know if he remembered any of last night, but I know I did and I was uncomfortable even being at the opposite end of the table from him. My conscious was telling me that everyone knew, that everyone was calling me a home wrecker, but in reality no one knew a thing and I was just being hard on myself.

"Where'd all this come from?" Rick asked as he held up a bottle of aspirin.

"Jenner." Lori answered before Rick asked her to help him open the bottle. "He thought we could use it. Some of us at least." She said with a smile in Glenn's direction and he started grumbling again.

"Lori, could I steal that bottle from you?" I asked and she tossed me the bottle with a snarky smile. In that moment I wanted to say 'don't look at me like that. I stole your husband last night', but even as I thought those words my stomach churned and my conscience told me I was a horrible human being.

So I kept my mouth shut and popped a couple of the pills. I was setting the bottle back down on the table when Shane walked into the room. "Feel as bad as I do?" Rick called to him and I had to restrain the urge to shush him.

"Worse." Shane answered as he got himself a cup of coffee. When he turned around T-Dog asked him what had happened to his neck. I looked up from my plate to see three scratch marks. One was on his jaw and the others on the side of his neck. "I must have done it in my sleep." He answered.

"Never seen you do that before." Rick said and I hesitantly turned my eyes to him and Lori.

"Me neither." Shane said before he turned is dark eyes on Lori. "Not like me at all."

Lori looked at him and rolled her eyes before he stuck a piece of bacon in her mouth and wiped her hands. She was clearly avoiding his gaze, but why? Not too long after Jenner came into the room and everyone told him good morning. "Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with question's first thing-" Dale started as Jenner fixed himself a cup of coffee.

"But you will anyway." Jenner interrupted.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea spoke up.

"I did." I popped off and she rolled her eyes at me while a few others laughed.

Jenner just blinked at us for a second before he sighed. "Fine, follow me." he led us back to the main room where he went over to the only computer that was still on. "Give me playback of ts-19." Vi's voice could he heard over the speaker then a picture of a brain scan popped up on the large screen. "Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." Jenner said as we walked closer to see the large screen.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

"An extraordinary one." Jenner answered. "Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for EIV." Jenner said to the compter.

"Enhanced internal view." The computer voice said as the picture changed to a side view of the brain then zoomed further in on what looked like electrical bursts shooting through wires.

"Neurons." I whispered to myself.

"What are neurons?" Daryl asked behind me making me jump.

"Um, internal wiring if I remember correctly, like a postal system bringing messages from one place to another." I answered quietly.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked not having heard my answer to Daryl.

"It's a person's life." Jenner answered. "Experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique. And human."

"You don't make sense, ever?" Daryl asked from beside me with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Those are synapses, electrical impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death." Jenner said.

Daryl looked down at me, "I like the way you said it better. He makes shit complicated."

I laughed then turned my eyes to Rick who was talking. "Death? That's what this is, a vigil?"

"Yes." Jenner answered, looking up at the screen. "Or rather the playback of the vigil."

"This person died?" Andrea asked as she walked closer to the screen. "Who?"

"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process." Jenner said before he started talking to the computer. "Vi, scan forward to the first even."

"Scanning to first event." The computer answered and the screen fast forwarded. We watched all of the little organic wires started turning black.

"What is that?" Glenn asked, sounding awed.

"It invades the brain like meningitis." Jenner answered as if we could understand that. "The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown. Then the major organs. Then death." He said as the whole brain on the screen turned black. "Everything you ever were or ever will be…gone." He said and I sighed, aggravated at him for not giving us straight information that a normal person could completely understand.

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked making us look at her and Carol who told her daughter yes.

When Andrea started crying Jenner looked at her. "She lost somebody two days ago…her sister." Lori explained.

Jenner leaned down to Andrea and said, "I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is." He looked at her for a second before he moved back to the front of the room. "Scan to second event."

"Scanning to second event." Vi answered and we all looked at the screen.

"The resurrection times vary wildly. We have reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours." Jenner said with a glance back at us. "in the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute…seven seconds."

We all watched as a red light started shooting through the brains internal wires. "It restarts the brain?" Lori asked.

"No, just the brain stem." Jenner answered with a look back at her before he turned his eyes back to the screen. "Basically, it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive." Rick said as he stepped up to Jenner.

Jenner motioned to the screen. "You tell me."

"It's nothing like before." Rick answered. "Most of that brain is dark."

"Dark, lifeless, dead." Jenner said. "The frontal lode, the neocortex, the human part… that doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct." A few seconds after he said that a burning white stream shot through the brain on the screen.

"God. What was that?" Carol asked.

"He shot his patient in the head." Andrea answered. "Didn't you?"

"Vi, power down the main screen and the work stations." Jenner said ignoring her question.

"You have no idea what it is do you?" Andrea asked with her usual attitude.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." Jenner answered.

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui asked.

"There is that." Jenner said and I rolled my eyes.

"Somebody must know something. Somebody, somewhere." Andrea argued.

"There are other's right? Other facilities?" Carol asked what I was thinking.

"There may be some." Jenner answered. "People like me."

"But you don't know? How could you not know?" Rick asked.

"Everything went down. Communications, directives…all of it." Jenner answered. "I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing?" Andrea asked. "That's what you're really saying, right?" Jenner just looked down, not having an answer for her pushy questions and Andrea scoffed.

"Man, I'm gonna get shit faced drunk, again." Daryl said as he walked over to one of the computers and put his elbows on it, resting his head in his hands.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this had been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but…" Dale stated as he walked toward a big clock on the wall that was counting down. "that clock…it's counting down. What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators…they run out of fuel." Jenner answered and to me, the tone of his voice sounded as if he was sugar coating something.

"And then?" Rick asked and Jenner didn't answer, he just walked off. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Rick took charge and asked the computer.

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." The female computer voice answered. The men ran off to investigate the basement generators.

While they were gone I went back to my room and started packing my things. I didn't know what facility wide decontamination was, but judging by the way Jenner answered it wasn't anything good. I was shoving my fully charged cell phone and it's charger into my bag when the lights turned off and air conditioning stopped.

When I left my room I saw others doing the same. Jenner came out of one of the rooms and was bombarded with questions. "Energy use is being prioritized." Jenner answered as he took a bottle of alcohol out of Daryl's hand.

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked.

"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." Jenner answered as he kept on walking and took a swig of the alcohol.

"Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Daryl asked as he started walking after Jenner, who didn't answer. "Hey man, I'm talkin' to you. What do you mean it's shutting itself down?" he asked. "How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised.' Jenner answered.

Rick and the others came out of the basement. "Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked when we all met up.

"The system is dropping all the non essential uses of power. It's designed to keep the compters running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark." Jenner quickly explained as we all headed to the main room of Zone 5. "Right on time." He said as we entered the room and the red clock came into view.

Rick followed after the doctor who stopped walking when he came to the stairs of the suspended circle of computers. The rest of us looked around at each other, confused. Jenner looked at Daryl, who was standing hear him, and handed him the bottle that he had taken from him earlier. Daryl jerked it from his hands, spilling some of the liquid in the process.

"It was the French." Jenner told Daryl who looked at him like he was stupid.

"What?" Andrea asked.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know." Jenner answered. "While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"So what happened to them?" I asked, probably voicing what we were all thinking.

"The same thing that's happening here." He answered me. "No power grid. Ran out of juice. The word ruins on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner said as he went up the stairs, headed toward a computer.

"Let me tell you somethi-" Shane started, sounding and looking pissed and aggravated as he headed after Jenner.

"To hell with it Shane, I don't even care!" Rick said grabbing his friend by the shoulder in an attempt to stop him, but it didn't work. So Rick turned to the rest of us who were still standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Lori, Jo, grab your things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!" Rick yelled and the others scattered, but I stayed where I was.

I jumped when a loud alarm started blaring. "What the hell is that!?" I yelled.

But I didn't get an answer other than the computer voice that said, "Thrity minutes to decontamination."

I was watching Jenner, hoping to see some sort of answer in his actions, but all I saw was him walk over to a computer and turn the alarm off. A few seconds later the door that led into the main area, the only way out, slid up, locking us inside. "Did you just lock us in?" Glenn asked as I ran over to the door, stupidly looking for a way to open it up.

Jenner ignored our questions and I watched as Daryl ran after him and attempted to beat the shit out of him, but Shane and T-Dog stopped him. Rick, looking more pissed and determined than I had ever seen him before, marched over to Jenner and demanded, "Jenner, open that door, now."

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed." Jenner explained and I, like many of the others didn't know what to do. Dale told him to open them and his response was, "That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that." Rick looked from Lori to me, where it still stood on the platform of the thick metal door that led out. "It's better this way."

Rick turned to him and asked, "What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Jenner ignored the question and Shane and Rick closed him on him where his sat in his computer chair. "What happens in 28minutes!" Rick repeated and Jenner jumped out of his chair.

"Do you know what this place is?!" Jenner yelled. "We protected the public from some very nasty stuff!" he yelled getting in Shane's face for a second. "Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" he finished yelling and sat down in his chair. I was alone where I was standing so I headed back over to the group. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure in a terrorist attack, for example, HIT's are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out." Jenner said.

I walked up to stand beside Rick as he asked, "HIT's?"

"Vi, define." Jenner asked.

"HIT's: high impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear." After just the words alone, tears started slipping down my cheeks. "The vacuum-pressure effects ignite the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage of structures is desired." The computer voice explained.

"It sets the air on fire." Jenner whispered. "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret." He whispered and the others just stood around letting it sink in that he was going to let us die in this stupid building.

I had had enough, I snapped and slapped his shoulders as I balled up his lab coat in my fists then slammed him back against the desk. "Listen here you bastard." Rick tried to pull me back but I resisted. "I am not a chicken. I don't want an easy way out. Unlike you I am not afraid to feel grief and regret. And God knows I have a lot to regret after last night, but I will NOT let you kill me or these innocent kids." Having heard enough, Shane wrapped his arms around my shoulders and lifted me from the ground. But I kept on yelling even as he hauled me way, "Let us out of here or so help me I will make ever last second of your death as painful and drawn out as I possibly can!"

When Shane sat me down I tried to make another run at Jenner, but T-Dog got in my way. "He ain't worth it." he said, putting his hands on my shoulders and I knew it was pointless to fight against him.

Daryl and Glenn had migrated to the big metal door while I was lecturing the doctor and when I heard Daryl growl I looked just in time to see him smash his liquor bottle against the door. "Open the damn door!" he shouted.

Someone tossed Daryl and Shane a couple of Axes and they began to pound pointlessly against the door. Lori and Carol were sitting on the floor against some cabinets with their crying kids in their arms. I wanted to go to Carl and tell him it was going to be okay, that we would get them out of there, but the look Lori gave me when she saw me looking in their direction put all of those thoughts to a stop.

"You should have left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier." Jenner, who was sitting in a computer chair not far from Lori, Carol and the kids, said.

"Easier for who?" Loir asked.

"All of you. You know what's out there." Jenner answered and when Rick heard Jenner talking to us he walked over. "A short, brutal life and an agonizing death." I felt like arguing with him again, but judging by what he was saying now my first lecture didn't make it through his thick skull. "Your…your sister, what was her name?" Jenner asked Andrea, who was sitting on the floor not far away from the kids. Andrea told him her name. "Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it." he said to her before he turned to Rick. "Is this really what you want for your wife and son?" Jenner asked.

Rick practically got in Jenner s face. "I don't. Want. This."

"And neither do I so just let us out." I added angrily before Shane walked over and leaned on some computer, exhausted.

"Can't make a dent." Shane sighed then leaned his head forward. As I looked behind me Daryl had stopped beating on the door too.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner said.

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl yelled as he made a run for Jenner with the axe raised over his head.

I screamed and ducked out of the way. It took Dale, Rick and T-Dog to keep Daryl from slamming the axe into Jenner's head.

"You do want this." Jenner said to Rick, getting all of our attention. "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

Hearing Jenner's words shocked me and as I looked across the small space at Lori, she looked just as shocked. As she turned her eyes to me, I realized that we were both judging each other's reactions to see if he had told one of us what he had really been thinking this whole time.

"So that's what you really think? After all your big talk?" Shane asked what we were all thinking.

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick asked in response.

"Not everything is your responsibility, Rick." I said glaring at him as he glared right back.

"There is no hope." Jenner spoke up. "There never was."

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere." Rick yelled.

"What part of 'everything is gone' do you not understand?" Andrea asked from where she still sat on the floor.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it." Jenner said. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

"No, you listen you egotistical jackass, this is only our extinction event if we let it be and cowards like you are what's gonna kill us." I argued, even though it was pointless.

"This isn't right. You can't just keep up here." Carl cried, speaking up for the first time.

"One tiny moment…a millisecond. No pain." Jenner spouted his bullshit.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." Carol cried.

At her statement people started getting up and moving around. "Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner asked.

When I heard a gun cock I looked to see Shane headed over to us with a shotgun in his hands. Rick tried to stop him, but it didn't work. Shane walked over and pointed the gun at his head. "You open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me!?" Shane shouted.

The others tried to talk him out of shooting the doctor and it worked, but he yelled at the top of his lungs before he started shooting computers instead. I yelped and ducked down as I covered my head. Rick, however didn't duck down, he instead fought the gun from Shane and knocked the man to the floor. "Are you done now?" Rick asked, not receiving an answer. "Are you done?"

"Yeah, I guess we all are." Sane replied before Rick left him and gave the gun to T-Dog. "Rick looked around at all of us before he turned to Jenner. "I think you're lying."

"What?" Jenner asked, still sitting at his desk.

"You're lying." Rick accused. "About no hope. If that were true you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't." Jenner sighed and leaned back in his chair. "You chose the hard path. Why?"

"It dosen't matter." Jenner answered.

"It does matter. It always matters." Rick walked over to the doctor and leaned down to be face lever with him. "You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to." Jenner answered as he stood from his chair. "I made a promise…" he pointed to the screen, "To her. My wife."

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked. I personally didn't care.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no? She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just…Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me." Jenner explained.

"You're wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's…that's all we want. A choice, a chance." Rick argued.

"And you're not the only one who made a promise. I promised my mother that I would keep moving forward." I spoke up.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori pleaded.

Jenner sighed then said, "I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." He walked over to a computer and swiped his card then punched in some numbers on a keypad. After he hit enter the door dropped down and Daryl yelled for us to go. So we all made a run for it. But when I stopped at the door and looked back, I saw Rick talking to the doctor.

Lori ran to him and grabbed him by his hand, pulling him to the rest of us. As I looked back Dale, Andrea and Jacqui were still in the main room. It was a long run up the many stairs that led up to the main entrance area of the CDC and when we got to the top we realized that the glass wouldn't break. We couldn't get out of this place. After Shane shot at the glass with his shotgun Carol spoke up. "Rick, I have somethin' that might help." She said, walking over to Rick while digging in her bag.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file is gonna do it." Shane said making me want to slap him for being a smart ass in a satiation like this.

"Your first morning at camp when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." She said and I walked over to see her holding up the grenade that Rick had taken from the solider in the tank.

As Rick walked over to the window we all ran for cover. I hid behind a small set of stairs next to T-Dog. Rick was running our way when the grenade went off, sending him flying down the stairs. When the worst of the blast was over I ran to Rick and helped him up. "Go, go, get out." He said as he took off to his family, helping them up. I went to the window and eased myself out, being careful not to cut myself on the thick glass as I did. Once I was out I helped the others. When everyone was on the outside we all took off toward the cars.

Daryl and I got into his truck. I ducked down sideways into the middle of the seat before I felt Daryl's arm over my back as he leaned over the middle of the seat, covering my head with his right before the ground shook and the building exploded.

When the worst of the blast was over Daryl and I sat up then looked around, taking in the burning building. When my eyes slipped from the building to the man sitting to my left I found him looking back at me. "Thanks." I sighed. He just gave me a nod before he cranked the truck and started following the other cars.


	7. Chapter 7: And then this happens

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter one.

 **The Revelation of The Other Woman.**

 **Chapter Seven:** **And then this happens…**

After a day of heading toward Fort Benning, we stopped for gas and supplies. Durring a group discussion it was decided that to save gas we would drop the truck and church van. So that meant that I would either be riding in the car with Carol, Sophia, Lori, Carl and Rick, on the motorcycle with Daryl or in the Rv with Dale, T-dog, Glenn, Shane and Andrea. I didn't want to ride with any of those people. Daryl was an okay guy compared to his brother, but I didn't want to be straddling a bike with him. I didn't want to Ride in the same car as Rick and Lori for obvious reason and I didn't want to ride in the Rv with Andrea and Shane, but I had no choice, I had to pick.

I had put my bag in the Rv and was leaning against the side of Daryl's truck that we were abandoning when he saw me looking around at my options while biting my lip. He rode his bike up to me and jerked his head for me to get on. I figured if he was offering to give me a ride when none of the others had, then I should probably take it. So without thinking too hard about it I walked over to him. He took his cross bow off of the small seat behind him and strapped it to the handle bars. When he was done I put my leg over the bike and sat down behind him.

"I've never ridden one of these death traps before, I might not be the best riding partner." I warned him and he chuckled.

"Just do what I do and you'll be alright." He said as he slid his booted foot back flipping up the kick stand.

"I feel like I'm gonna fall off and we haven't even started moving yet." I said as I tried to grip the seat, but there was nothing to hold on to.

Daryl glanced back at me then quickly turned his eyes back to the road in front of us. "Ya can hold on to me if ya want, just don't squeeze the breath out of me." he told me before he started slowly moving and gradually got faster to keep from startling me by gunning it. once we were on the road and going a decent speed, it wasn't so bad. We were at the back of the caravan now and a few hours into the 125 mile drive the Rv and car in front of us slowed to a stop. When we drove up to the front of the Rv, Dale asked Daryl if he could find a way through. So Daryl gave him a nod then started slowly leading them through the mish mash of cars and over turned tanker trucks.

We were still making our way through when we heard a loud clank followed by squealing coming from the Rv behind us. So Daryl stopped and killed the motorcycle before we got off. While he started digging in the back of a car for useful stuff, I headed over to Dale and the others that were gathering in front of the Rv. "I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water." Dale said.

"Problem Dale?" Shane asked as he walked over with his shotgun in his hand.

"Well, just the small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of…" he trailed off as he looked around at the many cars surrounding us. "Okay that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane said.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl said as he pulled stuff out of the back of the car.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog said.

"Maybe some water." Carol added where she and Sophia stood off in the distance with Lori and Rick behind them.

"Or food." Glenn added.

"This is a grave yard." Lori spoke up and we all looked at her for a few seconds. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"You're right. This is a grave yard, but fact of the matter is these people are dead. Dead people don't need food or water. They don't need meds or fuel. We do and if I had to guess these people would want us to take what we need and live as long as we can." I spoke up.

"Come on y'all. Just look around. Gather what you can." Shane spoke up putting a stop to whatever might come what I said. As people scattered to look for supplies I went off on my own. I was looking through a car a few over from Carol and Lori when Rick came out of nowhere, grabbed me by my shirt collar and pulled me down.

"Get under the car, now." he hissed as he slid under the car. I slid under with him and when I looked up I noticed Lori and Carol under one Car while Sophia and Carl where under another. I was about to ask what was going on when the moans and hisses of walkers hit my ears. I was lying on my stomach, heart beating ninety to nothing with my head pressed to the back of my hand that was flat on the asphalt. The scuffling of feet slipping by us hit my ears, but I kept my eyes closed.

It was only when I heard Sophia start screaming that I opened my eyes. Rick slid out from under the car as I watched her feet start running from the walkers that were chasing her Rick started running after her and when I slid out from under the car I saw Carol running to where her daughter had headed. "Lori, there's two walkers after my baby." Carol cried, but Lori covered her mouth to keep her from drawing the other walkers back to us.

Eventually everyone crowded around us to see what had happened. Everyone seemed to be okay except T-Dog who's arm was bleeding badly and his shirt was soaked with blood. "Jeez, Tee, are you okay?" I asked as I left the guard rail and headed over to him. "What happened?"

"Slipped, cut my arm on a car door." he explained.

I walked over to him and held my hand out for him. "Can I see it?" I asked and he held his arm out to me. "Go sit down and I'll find something to cover that with." I said and he gave me a nod. After ten minutes of looking I found some antibiotic salve, a clean white t-shirt and some electric tape. "Are you allergic to any kind of adhesive?" I asked.

"No, why?" he asked and I held up the roll of black electric tape.

"This is all I could find." I told him with a sad smile and he shook his head in disappointment. "Here, gimme." I told him as I held out my hand for his arm.

He held his arm out to me where he sat in the doorway of the RV. "Why are you helpin' me?" he asked.

I kneeled down to be level with him as I folded the shirt into a pad and placed it over his long cut. "Because you need help and I need a distraction from the fact that a child just got chased into the woods by two walkers." I explained.

He just nodded as I placed a decent amount of pressure on the cut as I taped the middle and ends down. He winced and I gave him an apologetic look. I was just finishing up when Rick came out of the woods, soaking wet. Lori and Carol ran over to him as I walked over to hear what had happened.

He told us that he had found her and left her in a small hole in the river while he drew the walkers away and when he went back for her she was gone. Carol started crying and Rick looked down at the ground, pinching the bridge of his nose as he did. I wanted to go to him, tell him it wasn't his fault that Sophia was lost, but Lori was standing close by. When Rick asked for people to come help find her Shane, Glenn and Daryl said they would. "I'll go too." I said taking a step closer to the search party, but Rick shook his head.

"No. You should stay here and help protect the others." He said waving me off without a second thought.

" _No you want me to stay here and protect_ her _."_ I felt like spitting out, but I knew it would only start a fight that we didn't need to be having right now. So I kept my mouth shut and just nodded.

The four men disappeared into the woods with Rick leading the pack and I went back to searching cars. Where before I was looking for food and water, now I was looking for those things and medical supplies for T-Dog.

After a while Shane and Glenn came back. Carol went over to them, hopeful to hear that they had found Sophia, but they just shook their heads. At Shane's request I kept scavenging the cars while T-dog siphoned gas and the others started moving cars so that the Rv would be able to turn around once it was fixed.

Once I was finished scavenging the cars on our side of the road I came back and tossed a big duffle bag into the back of the car that Rick had been driving. "That's it from these cars." I told Shane.

"What about the other side of the road?" he asked and I shook my head. "Okay, well we need all that we can get, so get after it." he said and I sighed as I headed over to the other side of the road and started looking through cars. I was looking through the glove box of a tan pickup when I heard a small yelp. My heart jumped into my chest as I took off running toward the sound. When I got to where I thought it had come from I found Carl lying on the ground with a roll of black leather on top of him. "Carl, are you okay?" I asked as I rushed to him and helped him stand up.

"I'm okay." He said with a smile. "Look what I found." He held up the black roll and I noticed a hatchet sticking up out of it.

"Cool." I told him with a smile as I took it from him then looked around to see that Lori was nowhere in sight. "Where's your mom?" I asked and he pointed toward the Rv that was at least a good 100 yards from where we were. "Didn't she tell you to say within her eye site?" I asked and he shrugged. I sighed and put my hands on his shoulder. "Come on."

He dropped his head looking like a kicked puppy as we headed back over to the RV. Lori looked up for a basket of canned goods and saw me walking over with my hand on Carl's back. When I saw that she was looking I gave him a small push in her direction. "What's going on?" she asked with wide eyes.

"I was looking though cars and heard a yelp." I started explaining. "Found Carl on the ground with this in his hands." I handed her the weapon roll and she took it from me then looked at Carl who looked up at me where I stood behind him. "You should probably tell her you're sorry for not staying within her eyesight." I advised with a nod at Lori.

He turned to his mom and said a quiet, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, just…don't do it again." She told him then she looked at me. "Thanks." She told me with a nod that I returned then turned and went back to searching cars.

Dusk was approaching by the time I finished searching all of the cars that I could and when I returned I found Shane, Dale and Andrea talking near the Rv. "I don't think it's a good idea right now." I heard Dale say as I approached.

"Why not?" Shane asked as I stopped a foot away from them.

"I'm not comfortable with it." Dale answered.

"You're not comfortable with what?" I asked, being nosey, but I didn't really care.

"With me having my gun." Andrea answered snarkily.

"The truth is," Shane stated with a look between me and Dale, "Less guns we have floating around camp the better."

"You turning over your weapon?" she asked him.

Shane chuckled and said, "No, but I'm trained in its use. That's what all of y'all needs is proper training, but until that time I think it's best if Dale kept track of all of them."

"What about her? She has a pistol, you gonna make her give hers up?" Andrea asked with a pointed look at me.

"I've had training." I said and all three of them raised their eyebrows like they didn't believe me.

"What use does a dancer have for a gun?" Andrea asked.

"I worked late and walked home alone, in the city." I answered. "I would be stupid to not have a gun license."

"Would you happen to have this license on you?" Shane asked and I pulled my small wallet out of my back pocket and pulled the weapons carry license out and handed it to Shane.

"She's trained and up to date on it." he said as he handed me back the thick plastic card. "She keeps her gun." He told Andrea and I gave her a cocky smile. She scoffed and walked away. "Mind telling me what that's about?" Shane asked Dale.

But Dale didn't get to answer because Glenn walked up then said, "Oh, God, they're back." We all walked over to them as they walked up to Carol.

"You didn't find her?" she asked as she started to cry.

"Her trail went cold." Rick answered. "We'll pick it up again at first light."

" You can't leave my daughter out there on her own." Carol argued. "To spend the night alone in the woods."

The others had joined up at this point. "Out in the dark's not good." Daryl spoke up. "We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people would get lost."

"But she's twelve. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Carol asked and Lori placed her hand on Carol's back comfortingly.

"I know it's hard, but I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there." Rick said.

"And we tracked her for a while." Daryl added.

"We have to make this an organized effort." Rick started speaking to everyone. "Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

"Is…is that blood?" Carol asked noticing a smudge of blood on the bottom of Daryl's pants leg.

"We took down a walker." Rick answered and Carol started freaking out. "There was no sign that it was ever anywhere near Sophia." Rick answered

"How can you know that?" Andrea asked. And Rick, not knowing how to answer looked at Daryl.

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." Daryl explained.

Carol sighed as she sat down on the guard rail and Lori sat down next to her. "How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" Carol asked and I stepped up to stand next to Rick. "How could you just leave her?" I feelt sorry for her, but her blaming Rick wasn't helping.

"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." Rick pleadingly explained to the crying woman.

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." Shane stepped up on the other side of Rick.

"How's she supposed to survive out there on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child." She cried.

"It was my only option." Rick started, but I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Rick, stop." I told him and he looked up at me questioningly. "Carol, he did the best he could and he's the only person that even tried to help her. So please, don't blame him. What happened was nobody's fault." I said and she looked up at me with tears slipping down her cheeks, breaking my heart. "I promise you, we will do what we can to find her." I placed my hand on her shoulder and she reached up and grabbed my hand. "Okay?" I asked.

She nodded. "Thank you."

I gave her a weak smile before I took my hand from both her and Rick's shoulders. As I turned to walk away I saw Lori giving me a glare, as usual. Guess she didn't like me touching her husband, but whatever. Carol was unnecessarily ripping him a new one and no one was standing up for him so I did.

As I walked away the group behind me dispersed. I decided to be alone for a while and found an abandoned cube van that I had already searched. I pulled the back up and climbed inside then sat down with my knees pulled to my chest. I didn't have an attack or anything I just leaned my head against the metal wall and closed my eyes.

When I heard someone climb quietly inside I opened my eyes to see that the sun had almost set. A dark orange light highlighted Rick as he sat down across from me. "Hey." He almost whispered.

"Hey." I relied groggily.

"Thanks for standing up for me back there." he said simply and I just shrugged.

"Don't read too much into it." I replied flatly.

"Well, I'm still glad you did." he said and I just looked down at my arms that were folded across my knees. "I'm surprised you stood up for me after what happened at the CDC." His words made me look up from my dirt speckled arms to see him staring at me. "I was a jackass and I shouldn't have said what I said."

I laughed sarcastically, "Yeah, you were, but that doesn't mean that you didn't mean every word of what you said."

"Joanna." He sighed as he sat up and started crawling closer to me.

"Don't Joanna me." I snapped as I stuck my foot out and put it on his chest, keeping him from closing in on me. "You'll never leave her, we both know that and we can't just be friends. So just…leave me alone." I said, not looking at him, but instead at the dirty floor of the van as I took my foot off of his chest.

"Joe, I-"

"Don't call me Joe." I said through gritted teeth and finally looked at him. "That name's reserved for people who care about me."

"I care about you." Rick insisted, pointing at himself.

"I'm not so sure you do." I said as I stood up and jumped out of the truck. "and even if you do, I don't care."

"How can you say that?" Rick asked as he hopped out down and walked closer to me.

"Because I don't like who I am when I'm with you. You make me… You make _us_ , immoral." I said as I started walking away. "And I don't want any part of that kind of life style."

"Joanna, don't be like that." He said and I felt him grab my hand to stop me.

"No, just stop, Rick." I said as I turned back to him as I jerked my hand from his. "You just put all of this…energy," I said motioning to him and the tilted head look he was giving me, "on your wife and your son. While you're at it, put some of that energy on keeping all of that hope you talked about back at the CDC alive, because I think I just jumped off that bandwagon." I gave him a tight smile and a sarcastic nod as I turned and walked away leaving him behind.

I grabbed a blanket out of my bag in the Rv where people were already bedding down for the night. I was headed out when Daryl asked, "Ya alright?"

"Yeah, I'm peachy compared to some." I answered as I glanced into the open door of the bedroom at the back of the RV. "I'm gonna sleep in the cube van up the road a ways. You're welcome to join me if it gets too crowded in here." I told him and he nodded before I left.

I had been lying in my sleeping bag in the van for a while and was on the verge of sleep when I heard something soft land on the floor beside me then looked up to see Daryl crawling in through the space I had left in the roll down door of the van. "Didn't actually expect you to take me up on my offer." I said quietly.

"Couldn't take her cryin' anymore." Was all he said before he laid down on his blanket. It only took a minute before his snoring filled my ears.

* * *

I woke up the next morning to Daryl kicking my leg. "Git up, gotta go look for Sophia." He grunted before he grabbed the door to the van and pulled it open, busting me in the eyes with the morning light. He grunted out a laugh when I groaned and pulled my sleeping bag over my head. After I heard him jump out I wiggled out of my sleeping bag then rolled it up as I yawned.

I had just jumped out when Rick walked up looking like a man on a mission. "Ya'll are getting awfully close." he observed. I scoffed and walked around him. "What's going on with you two?" he asked, but I kept on walking. "Are you sleepin' with him?" he asked.

His question got my attention and I spun on my heels making my hair flip around to slap me in the face. "That is none of your god damn business." I hissed at him. I should have told him no, that Daryl and I were just friends. I shouldn't have brought Daryl into whatever was going on with Rick and me, but really I just wanted to make him jealous. To make him feel the way I feel every time I see him with her.

I was putting my sleeping bag in the back of carol's car when Daryl walked over and leaned close to me, "Ya might wanna wipe that angry look off of yer face before Olive Oyl comes out here and see's ya givin' her man those looks."

I turned to him with wide eyes. "You know about…" I started, but couldn't finish the sentence.

"Yer room was right next to mine at the CDC, walls were thin and I ain't deaf." He explained then walked off. I sighed and slammed the back glass shut before I pressed my forehead against it.

Eventually we all gathered in front of the Rv. Rick placed the leather roll that Carl had found on the hood of the car and rolled it out. "Everybody takes a weapon."

"This isn't the kind of weapons we need." Andrea spoke up. "What about the guns?"

"When are you gonna let that go?" I asked earning a glare from her.

"We've been over that." Shane spoke up cutting off whatever argument might spawn from us. "Daryl, Joanna, Rick and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."

"It's not the tree's I'm worried about." Andrea said making me roll my eyes as I moved to lean against the RV.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See then its game over for all of us." Shane said. "So you need to get over it." Andrea glared at Shane while I smirked on the inside.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side." Daryl said while gripping the sling of his cross bow. "Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only land mark."

"Stay quiet, stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick said before he turned to the RV.

"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane said as he walked past me.

"Dale, keep on those repairs." Rick said, "We've got to get this R.V. ready to move."

Dale stood up as we all started heading to the woods. "We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to." The older man assured Rick. "Good luck out there."

After hours of walking we came across a grey and yellow tent and Rick motioned for us to get down. "She could be in there." Shane said.

"There could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl countered before he Shane and Rick started walking toward the tent. I watched from the front of the small group the men had left behind as Daryl pulled out his knife and headed over to the tent. He tried to peek inside but looked back at Rick and shook his head and shrugged.

When Rick called Carol over the rest of us followed. "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear." He told her.

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?" she tried, but she got nothing in response. "Sophia it's mommy." She called and Daryl stood at the ready in case there was a walker inside. "Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy." She called and when she still didn't get a sound from the tent Rick motioned for her to stay behind and headed over to Daryl. Shane followed behind. When Daryl unzipped the tent, letting air out of the tent, a foul smell spilled out making everyone cringe. Daryl coughed then went inside to investigate. "Daryl?" Carol called wanting to know if Sophia was inside. "Daryl?" she asked again when he didn't respond.

A few seconds later he popped out of the tent. "It ain't her." at his words I let out a sigh, glad that the horrible smell wasn't a dead little girl. Someone asked what was inside. "Some guy. Did was Jenner said. Opted out." All I could think in that moment was how big of a suicide spike occurred at the very beginning off all of this and that those numbers were probably still growing every day. "Ain't that what he called it?" as soon as Daryl asked this, church bells rang out making us all look around, trying to figure out where they were coming from.

When Rick took off running we all took off, following him. "If we hear them, maybe Sophia does too." Carol spoke up as we came to a stop, trying to figure out what direction the bells where coming from.

"Someone's ringing those bell's maybe calling others." Glenn said as he walked past her with me behind him.

"Or signaling that they found her." Andrea said as she walked past us.

"Or it could be a trap that someone has set to draw in walkers. If we go to them we could be walking straight into it." I said earning a disapproving look from everyone. "Hey, I'm just trying to be real here." I stated then kept on walking until I caught up with Rick, Shane and Daryl.

"Or Sophia could be ringing them herself." Rick said giving me a glaring look before he took off running. "Come on." So as ordered we all took off after him.

Eventually we came to a church, surrounded by a grave yard. "That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells." Shane said and Rick took off toward it anyway. "Rick." Shane tried before his friend took off running. So like before we all took off after him. And we didn't stop until we got to the building.

Shane and Rick opened the red double doors revealing the big cross at the front of the room. Three walkers inside turned to look at them as Glenn and I made our way up the steps to see what was inside. I handed Rick a knife then pulled my own as I walked past him to sink the knife into the temple of a woman with a dirty vale on her face. Rick and Shane took out the others and when I stood from pulling my knife out of the dead woman's head I turned to see Daryl behind me. He gave me and approving nod before he walked away.

I sank down on the pew as the others came into the room and Rick started calling out Sophia's name. "Yo, JC, you taking requests?" I heard Daryl ask the statue of Jesus hanging on the cross at the front of the room.

"I'm telling you it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick." I heard Shane say as I stood up and turned to the men. "There's no steeple." Right after he said this, bells started ringing out loud and clear. Everyone took off running, but I stayed where I was and sat back down on the pew.

Not even a minute later, Carol came back inside, walked to the front of the room and kneeled down at the altar. I had never been a religious woman, but I felt like I should be struck by lightning for just being in here after what I had had done. So I rested my forehead on the back of the pew in front of me and folded my hands under my chin. "Lord, I hope that if you're real you don't look down on me for not believing in you. But please, if you are real, put your hand on Carol, she needs you more than any of us do right now. I'm not going to make this long, so I'm just going to ask for one more thing. And that's for you to forgive me for..for what I did. I deeply, truly regret it…and I'm sorry. So…that's it I guess. Amen or whatever." She whispered then stood up to look at the creepy statue hanging in the front of the room.

When I turned around I saw Rick and Carl standing on the back wall, just three pews away from me. I gave Carl a sad smile then frowned at Rick before I ducked my head and walked out of the church and over to one of the tombstones then sat down on top of it. Eventually people started gathering around me then out of nowhere I heard Shane say, "Y'all are gonna follow the creek bed back. Okay, Daryl, you're in charge." He said as he kneeled down in front of everyone. "Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back. Search this area another hour or so just to be thorough.

"You're splittin' us up. You sure?" Daryl asked and I looked from Shane to him then back to Shane and Rick.

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Shane assured him

"I wanna stay too." Carl spoke up. "I'm her friend."

Shane looked at Rick then Rick looked at Lori. "Just be careful okay?" she asked getting a positive answer from Carl. "When did you start growing up?" she asked as she hugged the kid and even I had to smile at the sweet mother son moment. But my smile faded when Rick walked over and kissed Lori then hugged her.

"I'll be along soon enough." He assured her as they hugged. "Here, take this." he told her as they parted then handed her his pistol. "Remember how to use it?" he asked.

"I'm not taking your gun and leavin' you unarmed." She said then Daryl walked over and gave her his spare pistol. Lori took it and I couldn't help, but notice that Andrea rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"So do you men want help or should I go with the others?" I spoke up, getting looks from everyone but the only eyes on me that I cared about were Rick and Shane's.

"Sure, we could use your help." Rick spoke up so I walked over to stand next to Shane and Carl while the others headed out toward the highway.

"Give me a minute?" Rick asked then headed to the church leaving me alone with Carl and Shane.

While Rick walked over to disappear into the church, Shane, Carl and I headed over to the concrete steps. "Hey, Carl, could you go hang out near the doors and give Shane and I a minute to talk?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am." He told me as he jogged ahead of us and sat down on the steps.

"What do you want?" Shane asked with a sigh as he placed his hand on his hip.

"I know you're planning on leaving the group." I just spat out what I wanted to talk about.

"Yeah and what's that to you?" he asked, flat faced.

"I also know that Andrea wants to go with you, but I don't want to talk about her." I said and he rolled his eyes at me.

"Yeah then what is this all about?" he asked, getting aggravated with me.

"I want to go with you." I stated.

"Why?" he asked. Andrea's reason was obvious. She didn't like the way things were being run around here and she wanted to get away from Dale. But unless you were Daryl or Rick, my reasons for running away might not be so obvious.

"The exact same reason you want to leave." I said and he gave me a look that asked what that reason was. "You want to get away from Rick and Lori. You can't stand to see them together, I know this for a fact. I've been able to read you like a book from day one." I said quietly so that Carl wouldn't hear.

"Oh you can, can you?" he asked, looking pissed.

"Yeah, you love Lori and you hate seeing her with Rick. I know this because I can't stand to see Rick with her for one more minute." I confessed hoping that it wouldn't end up blowing up in my face. He was about to say something when Rick walked out of the church, cutting us off.

Shane gave me an intense look that I couldn't decipher before he turned to Rick and asked "You get what you needed?"

"Guess I'll find out?" he answered as he walked past us.

We were circling the area again when we heard a branch snap and Rick held up his hand telling us to stop. As we eased closer we realized that it was just a deer. When it stepped out into the clearing we were in, Shane lifted his gun to shoot it, but Rick stopped him. Carl walked closer and closer to it. He was reaching his hand out to touch it when a shot rang out. It was as if someone hit the slow motion button as I watched the deer fall toward us and Carl With it.

My feet were planted in place as I watch Rick screaming, "Oh no…No, no, no!" as he and Shane ran over to his son. Ricks hand scooped Carl up to his chest and was crying while rocking him when a chubby man with a rifle in his hand emerged from the trees.

Horror washed over his face when he realized that he had shot a kid. "Oh my god." He sighed.

Soon Shane was yelling at the guy. Through the yelling it was established that If Carl wasn't dead that the unnamed man knew someone who could help him. So Carl was scooped up off of the ground and the men took off running, leaving me behind. "Joanna, get a move on!" Shane yelled making my feet finally move from the spot they had been glued too and I took off running after them. "Hey, you move shithead, come on get us there!" Shane yelled at the guy who wasn't doing a good job of keeping up with us.

"How far?" Rick shouted back at them.

"Another half mile. That way! Hershel! Talk to Hershel! He'll help your boy." the guy directed us as he stopped to take a breath.

Rick kept running while Shane and I stayed back with the guy. "You got him?" I asked Shane who nodded at me so I started sprinting to catch up with Rick.

After a while we got to the house and were greeted by five people standing on a porch. "Was he bit?" an older man with a receding white hair line asked.

"Shot, by your man." Rick answered as we neared the porch.

"Otis?" a woman asked, as she and the man walked down off of the porch meeting them.

"He told us to find a man name Hershel." I explained.

"Is that you?" Rick asked, but didn't wait for an answer before he started pleading. "Help me. Help my boy.

He nodded then quickly said "Get him inside." and we started to the house. "Patricia, I need my full kit." He said as he walked in while rolling up his sleeves and we followed behind. "Maggie, Painkillers, coagulates…Grab everything." He barked and the young girl that had been standing on the porch obeyed. "Clean towels, sheets, alcohol." He said as he took a left into a bedroom. "In here." He flipped the comforter off of the bed and Rick laid Carl down on it. "Pillowcase." He told Rick.

But Rick didn't jump like the others had. "Is he alive?" Seeing that Rick was in shock I grabbed the pillow off of the bed and jerked the case off. "Is he alive?" Rick asked again.

But he still didn't get an answer, instead Hershel instructed me to, "Fold it, make a pad." I did so as three women came into the room and started doing things. "Put pressure on the wound." As I did as he said he put his stethoscope on and started listening for a heartbeat. "I've got a heartbeat." He said and I looked up at Rick who was standing at the head of the bed, nodding. "It's faint."

A woman walked over and tapped me on the shoulder. "I've got it. Step back." She said and I stood up straight and she put her hands were mine had been.

"Maggie, I.V." Hershel barked.

"We need some space." The young girl told me and I took a few steps back, putting my back against the wall.

"Your name?" Hershel asked Rick.

"Rick." He answered.

"Rick?" Hershel asked.

"I'm…I'm…I'm Rick." He stumbled over his words.

"Rick, we're gonna do everything we can okay?" Hershel asked. "But you need to give us some room." I moved toward the door, but Rick remained behind. "Now." Hershel insisted.

So I walked over and grabbed Rick's bloody hand. "Come on." I told him softly as I gave it a tug. When we got out of the room and looked toward the porch, Otis and Shane were out in the pasture, running toward the house, Shane yelling at the man the whole time.

Rick walked out onto the porch and took his hat off. "Is he alive? He still alive?" Otis asked and Rick just stared at him and swiped his bloody hand across his face.

"Hey." Shane said as he walked up the steps to us and took off his bag and gun. "Okay. It's okay." He told his friend as he pored some water on a rag. "You got blood on you man." He explained as he wiped Rick's face.

While Shane cared for Rick I walked down the steps to the panting Otis. "He's alive, but barely. They're working on him now." I said answering his question before we all headed inside to see how it was going with Carl and Hershel.

"You know his blood type?" Hershel asked when he saw us walk in.

"A-positive. Same as mine." Rick answered.

"That's fortunate. Don't wander far, I'm gonna need you." Hershel said then turned to Otis. "What happened?"

"I was…trackin' a buck. Bullet went through it. Went clean through." Otis answered, still in shock himself.

"The deer slowed the bullet down, which certainly saved his life. But it did not go clean through. It broke up into pieces. If I can get the bullet fragments out…and I'm counting six." Hershel said and I cringed and rubbed my head with my fingers.

"I never saw him. Not until he was on the ground." Otis said to the older woman in the room, Patricia who hugged him.

"Lori doesn't know." Rick said with a look at me then Shane. "My wife doesn't know. My wife doesn't know." Rick started crying and Shane put his arm around Rick's shoulders. I couldn't help but walk over and put my hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

When Shane ushered Rick out of the room I stayed behind. When I was sure Rick wouldn't hear me I spoke up. "Hershel?" I asked making sure I had his attention. "You said Rick would have to stay close because you would need his blood. I have o-. Isn't that the type that mixes with all blood types?" I asked, hoping I could be of some help and get Rick off of the hook.

"I missed your name." Hershel said as Patricia took over what he was doing and walked around to hold his hand out to me.

"Joanna." I answered as I placed my hand in his and shook it once.

"Well, Joanna, you're right. Your blood can mix with any type." He confirmed.

"So you won't take blood from Rick?" I asked.

"Yes. You can tell him." He said and I walked out into the living room to see him and Shane sitting on the couch.

"Carl got shot because I wouldn't cut bait. It should be me in there." I heard him say and when I did I walked over to kneel down in front of him.

"Stop it." I sighed as I took his hands and looked into his eyes. "Don't do that. Don't blame yourself. Don't look back, don't pick apart the past like that. It does no good. Just… keep looking forward. Look at the problem in front of you and don't think about how it got there. Only think about what to do, where to go from here." To told him and he gave me a nod and squeezed my hands before I stood up and moved to sit on the floor across from the two men.

Rick looked at Shane. "What she said. Plus, you've been there partner." Rick looked away from Shane to look at the floor. "Right? And you pulled through so will he."

"Is that why I got out of that hospital?" Rick asked with a look at Shane. "Found my family for it to end here? Like this? This some kind of sick joke?" Rick asked, getting loud.

"Shh. Stop it." Shane said giving me a look before he looked back at Rick. "You stop it. Just stop."

"A little girl goes missing… You look for her. It's plain and simple." He said.

We all jumped when Maggie opened the door, "Rick, Joanna," she said urgently and we hopped up and went into the room. "He needs blood."

Carl was awake and screaming and thrashing about on the bed. "You, hold him down." Hershel said to Shane who walked over and tried to hold Carl down. Carl screamed for his dad and it was taking everything in me not to cry.

When Patricia walked over to me I held my arm out receiving a look from Rick. "I'm o negative. I can give him blood." I explained then flinched as she stuck the needle in my arm getting blood on the first try.

Carl screamed louder as Hershel dug around in his stomach for a shard. "Stop you're killing him!" Rick shouted.

"Rick! Do you want him to live?" Hershel asked and I tried not to look at the thrashing crying kid on the bed. I watched instead as Patricia taped the needle in place. But when things got quiet I looked at Carl. "He just passed out." Hershel explained then finished digging out the bullet piece. I cringed at the bloody thing. "One down." Hershel said as she held up the piece. "Five to go."

Maggie pulled a chair up by the bed for me to sit down in while Patricia hooked up the tubes and started transferring my blood to Carl. After things settled down and Hershel took Carl's blood pressure stating that it was stable, Rick spoke up. "Lori needs to be here. She doesn't even know what's goin' on. I gotta go find her, bring her back."

"You can't do that." Hershel said.

"She's his mother." Rick practically shouted. "She needs to know what happened. Her son's lying here shot."

"And he's going to need more blood." Hershel countered then looked at me then Shane. "He can't go more than fifty feet from this bed." he said then looked back at Rick. "Her veins could give out while you're gone. We need you here."

Patricia pulled the needle out of my arm then bandaged it up. When I stood up I got light headed and my knees gave out. Patricia caught me and helped me stand up straight. "Are you okay?" Shane asked and I nodded not looking at him.

When we left the room, Maggie and Otis were waiting outside and looked up, awaiting the news. "He's stable for now." Shane told them as Rick sat down.

"Lori has to be here Shane, she has to know." Rick said looking up from the floor to Shane.

"Okay, I get that. I'm gonna handle it. But you gotta handle your end." Shane replied from where he was standing next to the door with his back against the wall.

"My end?" Rick asked.

"Your end is being here, for your son." Shane explained as he kneeled down and Rick just stared at him. "Even if he didn't need your blood to survive there's no way I'd ever let you walk out that door. Man, I'd…I'd break your legs if you tried. You know that right?" Shane asked and Rick glanced up at me where I stood to his left before he looked down at the floor and nodded. "If something happened to him and you weren't here… If he slipped away while you were gone you would never forgive yourself for that. And neither would Lori, man."

Rick covered his face with his hands and cried for a second before he sat up then turned to his right to look at Shane. "You're right."

"When was I ever wrong?" Shane asked, trying to lighten the mood. Rick smiled for a second as tears slipped down his face. "When…when you were in that hospital, the one you were never supposed to leave. Man, you should've seen Lori. She was like…" he said as he moved to stand on his knees closer to Rick. "The strength of that woman." He laughed while Rick smiled and nodded. "You can't imagine it. See that's what you gotta have now. I men, Carl…he needs that from you. So you wire yourself tight, my friend." Shane said as he reached up and grabbed his friends head. "You hear?" Rick pressed his forehead to Shane's and grabbed his neck. "You've got the hard part. Just leave the rest to me, okay? All right?"

"All right." Rick echoed before the door was opened and Hershel walked out.

Everyone stood up, ready for what he had to say. "He's out of the woods for the moment. But I need to remove those remaining fragments."

"How? You saw how he was." Rick asked.

"I know and that was the shallowest one." Hershel answered. I need to go deeper to get the others. "There's more."

"Tell me" Rick said.

"His belly's distended, his pressure's dropping, which means there's internal bleeding. A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels." He explained and Rick nodded. "I have to open him up, find the bleeder and stitch it. And he can't move while I'm in there. I mean at all. If he reacts the same as before, I'll sever and artery and he'll be dead in minutes." Rick nodded once at the man's words, trying to absorb them. "To even try this, I'll have to put him under, but if I do he won't be able to breathe on his own. Same bad results."

"What will it take?" Rick asked, numbly.

"You need a respirator." Otis spoke up. "What else?"

"The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures." Hershel named off.

"If you had all that, you could save him?" Rick asked.

"If I had all that, I could try." Hershel answered.

"The nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." Otis said before he took in a sharp breath, "The highschool."

"That's what I was thinking." Hershel said before he looked around at all of us. "They set up a fema shelter there. They would have everything we need."

"Place was overrun last time I saw it." Otis said. "You couldn't get near it. Maybe it's better now."

"I said, leave the rest to me." Shane spoke up. "Is it too late to take that back?" he asked with a small smile.

"I hate you goin' alone." Rick said.

"Come on." Shane said with an eye roll then looked at Hershel. "Doc. Why don't you do me a list, draw me a map?" Shane asked.

"You won't need a map. I'll take you there." Otis said. "Ain't but five miles."

"Otis no." Patricia spoke up.

"Honey we don't have time for guesswork and I'm responsible. I ain't gonna sit here while this fella takes this on alone." He said and Patricia just stared at him. "I'll be all right."

"Are you sure about this?" Shane asked.

"Do you even know what any of this stuff he's talkin' about looks like?" Otis asked.

"Come to think, no." Shane sighed.

"I've been a volunteer E.M.T., I do. We can talk about this till next Sunday or we could just go do it real quick." Otis argued.

"I'll take real quick." Shane said.

"I should thank you." Rick told Otis.

"Wait till that boy of yours is up and around. Then we'll talk. I'll gather some things." Otis said then walked off.

Maggie walked up to Rick and asked, "Where is she, your wife?"

It was decided after that, that Maggie would ride out into the woods to find Lori. Then we all saw Shane and Otis off and afterwards Rick and I went back inside to check on Carl. Once I saw that he was doing ok and wasn't in need of a blood transfusion I breathed a sigh of relief. "I need to get some air." I said excusing myself as I walked out on the porch.

As I leaned on the railing, the weight of the day started to sink in and my head began to swim. So I closed my eyes and began taking calming breaths, warding off a panic attack the best I knew how. I had just opened my eyes and looked out over the now calm country landscaping when I heard Rick's boots thumping against the wood of the porch as he walked over to me. "You okay?" I asked not looking back at him.

"I've been better." he sighed as he walked over putting his hands on the railing beside me. "Thanks for giving him blood."

"It's no problem." I said still not looking at him. "Anything I can do to save him I'll do." I said finally looking at him across my right shoulder to see him looking down at me with that look in his eyes again. Seeing it, I took a step to the side, putting space between us. It was at this time that Hershel came outside. "This land of yours…It's beautiful." I said to him then looked back out over the landscape.

"Been in my family for 160 years." Hershel said.

"I can't believe how serene it is." Rick added. "How untouched. You're lucky."

"We weren't completely unscathed." Hershel said with a look at Rick and me before he looked back out over his property. "We lost friends, neighbors. The epidemic took my wife, my stepson."

"I'm sorry." Rick and I said at the same time.

"My daughters were spared. I'm grateful to god for that. These people here, all we've got left is each other. Just hoping we can ride it out in peace till there's a cure." Hershel said making Rick and I share a look.

"We were at the CDC. It's gone now." Rick said.

I leaned over the railing to look at Hershel and say, "We watched it go up in flames, like all the other CDC's around the world have probably done by now. There's no cure out there."

"I don't believe it." Hershel countered and I leaned back and turned my eyes back out to the pasture. "When aids came along, everyone panicked. One boy in town came down with it and some parents pulled their children from school so they didn't have to sit in the same room."

"This is a whole other thing." Rick argued.

"That's what we always say, this one's different." Hershel argued back.

"Well, this one is." Rick said.

Hershel smiled. "Mankind's been fighting plagues from the start. We get our behinds kicked for a while then we bounce back. It's nature correcting herself, restoring some balance."

"I wish I could believe that." Rick said, turning his back on me to talk to Hershel.

"They're here." I said getting their attention as I pointed to Maggie and Lori on a horse galloping our way.


	8. Chapter 8: A Walk in The Woods

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter one.

 **The Revelation of The Other Woman.**

 **Chapter Eight:** A Walk in The Woods.

Rick rushed off of the porch to greet his wife when they got close. Lori started crying on his shoulder before they headed past me to the house. I didn't follow them and neither did Hershel, but after a few minutes he looked at me and said, "They've had enough time and I need to check on him." I followed him inside and stood at the door while Hershel checked his blood pressure. A hiss filled the room as he let air out of the cuff. "It's dropping, he needs more blood." So I headed over to the chair that was still by the bed, but Hershel stopped me. "You've already given once."

"I'm fine I can give more." I argued.

"We need to keep all three of you healthy." He argued with a look at Rick, Carl and me. "You and Rick should take turns." He said so I moved back to the door and leaned against the frame to watch as Rick sat down and let Patricia poke him.

Lori sat across from him all the while then when he started to stand up he got dizzy. "Slow, slow." She told him as he sat back down in the chair. "How many transfusions has he had?"

"Two. One from Joanna and this one from me." he said and she stared over at Carl.

"He wanted to do the same for you when you were in the hospital." She said then looked back at Rick. "I had to talk him out of it." She said with a small laugh then helped Rick stand up and I moved so that they could walk by then followed as they headed into the dining room.

After they got to the dining room, Hershel handed Rick a glass of orange juice and Lori glanced back at me. "Sorry, I don't mean to hover, I just…" I sighed not knowing what to say. "Tell me to buzz off and I'll buzz off." I said getting to my point.

"Honey, you're fine, and I appreciate what you did for Carl." She told me so I walked around to the end of the table and sat down, away from her and Rick. She placed her hands on the back of a chair and leaned against it. "Okay, so I understand, when Shane gets back with this other man-"

"Otis." Hershel said.

"Otis." She said looking at Hershel now. "The idiot who shot my son." She sighed.

"Ma'am, it was an accident." Hershel told her sternly.

"I'll take that under advisement later." She said. "For now he's the idiot who shot our son." She said and I had to refrain from calling her a bitch. Rick reached out and grabbed one of her hands that were still on the back of the chair.

"Lori, they're doing everything they can to make it right." Rick said and she ignored him and kept talking to Hershel.

"Okay, as soon as they get back you can perform this surgery?" she asked.

"I'll certainly do my best." Hershel assured her.

"Okay, you've done this procedure before?" she asked.

"Well, yes, in a sense." He said and I cocked my head to the side not understanding his answer.

"In a sense?" she asked.

Rick reached out and grabbed her hand again. "Honey, we don't have the luxury of shopping for a surgeon." Rick said and they both laughed for a split second.

"No, I understand that. But I mean you're a doctor, right?" she said as she placed her hand on Rick's and looked back at Hershel.

"Yes, ma'am. Of course. A vet." He answered.

"A veteran? A combat medic?" she asked sounding excited.

"A veterinarian." He answered.

"A-" she started then looked at Rick who gave her a look that told her he didn't know this particular piece of information. "And you've done this surgery before on what? Cows, Pigs?" she asked.

I saw Rick teetering where he stood before he said "I-have…" I rushed over to him as he pulled out the chair and caught him under the shoulders. Between me and Lori we got him in the chair safely. When she had her arm securely around him I let go and moved back to my chair at the end of the table.

"You're completely in over your head aren't you?" Lori asked.

"Ma'am, aren't we all?" he asked.

I sighed and folded my arms over the table then placed my head on them. A veterinarian. The guy wasn't a doctor, he was freakin' a veterinarian. Even when I thought he was a human doctor I thought the chances of Carl surviving this were low, but now…now they were even lower. After a while Hershel announced that he was going to check on Carl and seeing that I had nothing else to do I followed.

"Pressure's dropping again. We can't wait much longer." Hershel announced so I walked in and sat down in the chair.

"I'm ready, take whatever he needs." I said and Hershel looked at me.

"While she gives him blood I'm gonna go." Rick said sounding shaky.

"Go, go where?" Lori asked.

I turned to Hershel and nodded to my arm, so he put on a glove then opened a clean needle and stuck it in my arm. I didn't flinch. I was too busy watching Lori and Rick. "He said five miles. They should be long back by now. Something's gone wrong." Rick explained.

"Are you insane? You're not going after them." Lori argued.

"Rick," I said getting his attention and he looked at me, "Listen to her, please."

"If they got into trouble-" he started.

But I interrupted, "You would still be needed here." He turned from Lori to look at me then turned back to her.

"If something happened…I have to go." He argued.

"No, you're place is here." Lori practically yelled at him. "If Shane said he'll be back, he'll be back. He's like you that way." Lori argued back.

"I can't just sit here." Rick stated.

"That's exactly what you do!" Lori yelled getting in his face. "If you need to pry or cry to tell god he's cruel, you go right ahead, but you're not leaving, Rick. Carl needs you here." She said before she whispered, "And I can't do this by myself. Not this one. I can't."

I gave them a moment before I spoke up. "Rick?" I asked getting his attention.

"Buzz off." Lori said snapping her head toward me.

I looked down at the tubes connecting me to her son then back up at her. "I kinda can't at the moment." I told her then turned my eyes to Rick. "I was just going to tell you to remember what Shane said. You have to hold up your end." He gave me a nod then grabbed her hand and lead her outside. Hershel walked over and checked the needles and tubes. "I'm sorry we've invaded your farm. Disrupted your peace." I told him as he pulled the needle out of my arm. "But I thank you for trying to save Carl, even though you're not a human doctor."

"It's not a problem, really." The older man said as I gazed over at the sleeping boy. "Are you related to the boy?" he asked.

I shook my head no. "I've only know him for a week or so, I know his dad more than I know him or Lori." I explained.

"And I'm sure they appreciate you stepping up like you did." he said as he moved to take the needle out of Carl's arm.

"All I did was offer to let you and Patricia poke me in the arm. It's Shane and Otis that are going to deserve the praise." I countered and he just looked down at me as he shook his head from side to side. "What?" I asked, wondering what he was thinking.

"Nothing." he said as he as he helped me stand up. "Just come with me to the kitchen. We'll make you and Rick a sandwich."

Thirty minutes later Lori, Rick, Patricia, Hershel and I sat in the room with Carl as Hershel checked his blood pressure again. And when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye I looked toward the door to see Glenn and T-Dog standing in the doorway. "Hey." Glenn greeted and Rick responded. "Um, we're here, okay?" Glenn said and Lori thanked him.

"Whatever you need." T-Dog said and as they walked out of the room I stood up.

Rick gave me a questioning look so I simply said, "I'm going to go see how T's arm is doing." He gave me a nod of approval then I disappeared. As I started explaining to the others exactly what was happening and what was going on, I noticed Rick and Lori walk out onto the porch.

When they came back inside, Rick looked pissed and Lori looked aggravated as they headed toward Carl's room. Instead of hovering over them like I had been I followed Patricia, Maggie and T-Dog to the kitchen where they started working on T's arm. "I'm gonna have to stitch it." Patricia said after examining the deep cut. "Maggie, hold his arm down would you?" she asked and when Maggie gave her a nod she started stitching, causing T to yell before he gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. I walked around the table and placed my hand on his shoulder. He placed his free hand on mine and squeezed it. "You got here right in time." Patricia told him while she stitched. "This couldn't go untreated much longer." I glanced from T's arm to see Glenn leaning against the doorframe holding a coffee cup in his hand. "Merle Dixon, is that your friend with the antibiotics?" she asked.

"No, ma'am. Merle's no longer with us." Glenn answered as Patricia stuck the suture needle into T's flesh and he squeezed my hand making me flinch. "Daryl gave us those…his brother."

"Not sure I'd call him a friend." T added with a grunt.

"He is today. This doxycycline might have just saved your life." Patricia said as she continued to stitch. "You know what Merle was taking it for?"

"The clap." Glann answered making us all look up at him. "Um…venereal disease." He elaborated and when I looked up I saw him gulp as he looked at Maggie. "That's what Daryl said." He said as he looked away, fidgeting with his cup.

"I'd say Merle Dixon's clap was the best thing to ever happen to you." Patricia said flatly.

"I'm really trying not to think about that." T grunted and tensed as Patricia kept stitching and Glenn walked out. As soon as Patricia was done stitching and no longer needed Maggie, the younger girl walked out in the same direction that Glenn had gone. "I didn't break your hand did I?" T-Dog asked as I took my hand off of his shoulder and walked around to sit at the table while Patricia placed a bandage over his stitches.

"Na." I answered as I held up my sore hand and wiggled my fingers at him. "See, all good." I smiled as I sat my hand back down.

"Keep that clean and dry." Patricia told him when she was done and he thanked her. "There's coffee in the kitchen if ya'll want it." she said then headed upstairs.

"Do you want some?" I asked T-Dog who gave me a silent nod, so I headed to the kitchen. Four small white coffee cups sat upside down on a wooden rectangular serving tray along with creamer and sugar. So I flipped them over and filled them with the steaming black liquid from the full pot that sat off to the side of the serving tray.

"Why so many?" T-Dog asked when I walked over to him with the tray and sat it down on the table and sat a cup down in front of him.

"I figured Rick and Lori could use some." I explained as I motioned to the creamer and sugar. He shook his head and waved me off as he sipped the bitter liquid. "I never was a fan of unsweetened coffee." I explained as I added sugar and creamer to my cup then gave it a stir to mix it. When I was done I sat the spoon on the napkin that was on the tray and left my cup behind as I headed to Carl's room.

I knocked on the door with my elbow before I cracked the door open and stuck my head inside. "Yes?" Lori asked and I kicked the door open revealing the steaming cups and small containers of sugar and creamer. She rolled her eyes and looked back at Carl.

"I figured you guys could use some caffeine." I explained as I took another step into the room. "I'll uh, just leave it here for you." I said feeling awkward in the quiet room as I sat the tray down on the dresser.

"No, don't leave it." Rick said with a sigh as she stood from the chair he was sitting in to walk over. "Hershel might not appreciate you leaving this stuff in here." He explained then picked up the spoon and started adding power to the coffee.

While he did that I walked over to stand at the foot of the bed. "I hate to ask, but I can't help myself." I stated getting Lori's attention. "How's he doin'?"

"Not any better." Lori answered sounding aggravated that I asked.

"But thanks for asking." Rick spoke up as he turned around with the two cups in his hands. "Thank you for everything." He said with a small smile and a nod as he walked around me to hand a cup to Lori.

I guess he gave her a look or mouthed something to her because she leaned around him with a sigh and said, "Thank you, Joanna." Sounding like a kid that was just forced to tell their sibling that they was sorry.

"No problem." I replied to both of them with a nod of my own.

I had picked up the tray and was headed out, but that's when Hershel walked in and over to Carl. "Do go anywhere Joanna. We might need you." he told me so I set the try down on the dresser again then watched as he pressed his fingertips to Carl's wrist and watched his pocket watch for a minute. "He's still losing blood faster than we can replace it." he reported as he sat Carl's hand down and looked at Rick and Lori as she stood up. "And with the swelling in his abdomen we can't wait any longer or he's just going to slip away." Rick stood up and Lori walked over to help him. "Now I need to know right now if you want me to do this, because I think your boy is out of time." I looked from Hershel to Rick and Lori who were just looking at each other. "You have to make a choice."

"A choice?" Lori asked and Rick turned to look at her.

"A choice. You have to tell me what it is." He whispered to her shakily. "You have to tell me what it is." He repeated himself.

She looked like she was going to cry for a second before she placed her hand on his cheek. "We do it." she told him and Hershel started getting things ready while Rick hugged her to him.

"I'll get out of the way." I said to no one in particular as I left the room. I had just sat down on the living room couch with the others when we heard a truck pull up outside.

We all rushed out onto the porch to see Shane get out of the truck and start grabbing bags out of the back. "Carl?" he asked, breathlessly.

Rick, Hershel, Glenn and Lori left the porch and started grabbing bags from Shane. "There's still a chance." Rick told Shane.

"Otis?" Hershel asked and Shane shook his head. I watched Maggie and Hershel's shoulders sag at the news. "We say nothing to Patricia. Not till after. I need her" Hershel said before he ran into the house with a bag in his hand. I followed him inside and sat back down on the couch, knowing that for now there was nothing I could do. It was all up to Carl, Hershel and God now.

What seemed like hours later, Hershel walked out of the bedroom and asked where Lori and Rick were. So I pointed outside then followed behind, eager to know how Carl was doing. Lori and Rick were sitting on the porch steps when we walked out and they jumped up when they heard the screen door shut. "He seems to have stabilized."

"Oh, god." Rick sighed at the good news and even laughed a bit. He smiled as he walked up the steps and gave Hershel a hug. When he saw me standing behind Hershel he reached a hand out to me. So I grabbed it and gave him a smile.

When he let go of me and Hershel and walked down the steps we all looked at Lori to see her standing there with tears streaming down her face that was half covered by her hands. "I don't have words." She told Hershel.

"I don't either, wish I did." Hershel answered. "How do I tell Patricia about Otis?" he asked and I looked to my left where Maggie was leaning against the house, crying.

"You go to Carl." I heard Rick say and looked at him to see that he had been talking to Lori. "I'll go with Hershel."

They headed inside and Lori looked back at Shane, giving him a nod of thanks before she headed inside. I sat down on the porch steps with a sigh, glad that Carl was okay. Shane was headed past me up the steps when Patricia's cry's hit my ears and tears started rolling down my face. I hated hearing people cry. It was like I could feel their pain and had to cry with them. So I put my hands over my ears to block it out. I was still sitting there like that when Maggie came out and told me that the shower was free and there was a set of clothes on the bathroom counter for me. After my shower I was offered the living room couch to sleep on.

* * *

The next morning as soon as the sun was up, everyone else was up with it and I could no longer sleep. Maggie asked all of us to help gather rocks to make a resting place for Otis so that Patricia could get some closure. So that's what we were all doing when I heard Daryl's motorcycle and looked at the road to see him, the green car Shane had been working on and the Rv come into view. We all headed to the front of the house where the three vehicles were headed. They had just pulled to a stop when Rick and Lori came out of the house. I headed over to Daryl and asked, "No Sophia?" she shook his head no with a flat face. I sighed and let my head fall forward.

But my attention was pulled elsewhere when I heard Dale say, "How is he?"

"He'll pull through." Lori answered with a smile and a nod. "Thanks to Hershel and his people and…"

"And Shane." Rick added. "We'd have lost Carl if not for him." He added and after everyone took a second for it to sink in, Dale hugged Rick, kicking off the group hugging.

Carl hugged Lori and Andrea hugged T-dog. As I looked around it seemed like every woman in our group was hugging someone. When I looked at Daryl he glanced at me where I stood with one hand resting on the handle bars of his motorcycle and the other on my hip. I smirked at him. "Don't even think about it, Ballerina." he grunted.

"Psh, don't flatter yourself." I laughed at him and he smirked as he shook his head.

"How'd it happen?" Dale asked when everyone was done hugging.

"Hunting accident." Rick answered. "That's all, just a stupid accident."

* * *

We stacked the rocks we had gathered into a pile under a tree that Patricia said that Otis liked to hang out under when he wanted to work in the shade. When it was done, Hershel appeared holding a bible in his hand. I stood between Glenn and Dale and watched as each of the family members added a rock to the pile. "Blessed be God." Spoke Hershel, "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to Him for the gift of our brother Otis, for his span of years, for his abundance of Character. Otis, who gave his life to save a child's, now more than ever, our most precious asset." As Hershel continued to speak about Otis and God, I stared down at the ground and zoned out, not wanting to cry anymore.

After things settled down from the funeral Daryl, Shane, Andrea, Rick, Hershel, and I gathered around the hood of the Peltier's suv to plan a search for Sophia. "How long has this girl been lost?" Hershel asked.

"This will be day three." Rick answered before Maggie walked up with a roll of paper in her hands.

"County survey map. It shows terrain and elevations." She explained as she rolled it out on the hood of the van.

"This is perfect. We can finally get this thing organized." Rick said, standing at the front of the car as rocks were placed on the corners of the map to hold it in place. I looked at him from where I stood across from Daryl and beside Hershel as I fiddled with the windshield wipers. "We'll grid the whole area, start searching in teams."

"Not you, not today." Hershel spoke up. "You gave three units of blood. You wouldn't be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out." He then looked at Shane. "And your ankle, push it now, you'll be laid up a month, no good to anybody."

"What about me?" I asked and when everyone turned their eyes to me I felt myself cower a little.

"You gave less than him. While I wouldn't advise it, you'd probably be fine." Hershel said with a nod.

"Guess it's just us." Daryl spoke with a glance at me before he leaned over to point at the creek. "I think we should head back to the creek, work our way from there." he looked at Rick then me as he leaned back and adjusted the strap of his cross bow. "What do you think?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." I agreed, tucking my hands into the pockets of my skinny jeans.

"I can still be useful." Shane spoke up. "I'll drive up to the interstate, see if Sophia wandered back."

"Alright, tomorrow then." Rick said with a look around at everyone. "We'll start doing this right."

"That means we can't have our people out there with just knives." Shane added. "They need the gun training we've been promising them."

"I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property." Hershel requested. "We've managed so far without turning this into an armed camp."

"With all due respect, you get a crowd of those things wandering in here…" Shane finished with a scoff as he placed his hands on the hood of the car and leaned forward.

"Look, we're guests here. This is your property and we _will_ respect that." Rick replied giving Shane a pointed look that told everyone that his word was final. After breaking eye contact with Shane Rick sat his pistol down on the hood of the car and Shane followed suit. I hesitated, hoping they would forget about the gun that I had, but when I felt eyes on me I looked up to see Rick looking at me. "Joanna, come on, I know you have the pistol I gave you."

"I don't like being unprotected, but fine. If it will make everyone else comfortable…" I sighed as I sat the gun on the hood with the rest. When I looked away from it I found Andrea giving me a smug smile. I wanted so badly to pop off at her, but I refrained to keep down the drama around camp. We didn't need that right now.

"First things first. Set camp, find Sophia." Rick said and I noticed a disapproving look on Shane's face.

"I hate to be the one to ask, but somebody's got to." Shane said. "What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should all be clear on how to handle that."

Rick looked uncomfortable and tired as he said, "We do what has to be done."

"And her mother, what do you tell her?" Maggie asked.

"The truth." Andrea and I answered at the same time making the air around us grow awkward.

"I'll gather and secure all the weapons." Shane said, but I didn't look at him. I was too busy noticing the head shake that Hershel gave Maggie at our answer to her question. "Make sure no one's carrying 'till we're at a practice range off sight." Not wanting to be caught staring I turned my eyes to Shane. "I do request one rifleman on lookout. Dale's got experience."

When Hershel didn't immediately answer Rick stepped up. "Our people would feel safer, less inclined to carry a gun." He explained and Hershel just nodded. "Thank you."

"You ready?" Daryl asked me gruffly before he started walking off without an answer.

So I ran around the car to catch up with him. "Let me grab my armor and I'll be."

"Armor?" he stopped walking to ask.

"Riot gear? I don't know what to call it, you'll see after I have it on." I explained.

"Meet me at the front porch when you're ready." He said and I just gave him a nod.

When I walked into the RV to get my bag that had been moved out of the suv I was greeted with Lori sitting at the dinner table. "Hi, I uh, just need to grab my stuff then I'll be out of your way." I said as I moved around her to get to the bedroom.

"You're constantly in my way." She sighed tiredly.

I kept quiet as I grabbed my bags and threw the straps over my shoulders. "Excuse me for breathing." I sighed back as I walked past her then out of the Rv. I walked a good way away from where the rest of the tents were being sat up before I tossed mine on the ground along with my bag. I wasn't going to bother setting the tent up with Daryl waiting on me, my bag and it would be enough to mark my spot. So I kneeled down and started digging the pieces of armor out of the bag and placing them on myself. When I was done, I made sure I had my knife on me then headed over to where I could see Daryl leaning against the side of the house. "You look stupid." He greeted and I just shook my head at him.

"My, Daryl, you sure know how to make a lady feel good about herself." I said with a laugh that got nothing from him. "I know I look ridiculous, but if I get tackled by a walker, this at least covers my important parts. Unlike your flimsy sleeveless shirt."

"Least I won't suffocate." He popped off and I just ignored him as we started headed toward the tree line.

"Daryl." We heard Rick call and turned to see that he had been sitting on the front porch steps. "You okay, just the two of you?" he asked as he started walking over.

"I'm better on my own, but she seems smart enough to watch her own back." Daryl answered and started walking again so I followed. "Don't worry, we'll be back before dark."

"Hey." Rick called so we stopped. "We got a base. We can get this search properly organized now."

"You got a point or are we just chattin'?" Daryl asked with a bit of an attitude.

"My point is it lets you two off of the hook." Rick answered. "You don't owe us anything."

"My other plans fell through." Daryl answered before we started walking again.

"Joanna!" Rick called and I growled as I rolled my eyes and turned back to him.

"God, what, Rick?" I asked and he walked over to stand a few feet away.

"You don't have to go." His voice was almost a whisper, he was tired, I could tell, but that gave him no reason to be so protective of me.

"Worry about your wife and son, not me." I said, running my fingers through my hair, pushing it out of my face before I turned and headed toward Daryl who had stopped to wait for me.

We walked in silence for a while before Daryl surprised me by striking up a conversation. "What's the deal with you and Rick?"

"Yeah, I can't answer that question." I answered as I moved from walking behind him to walking beside him.

"Why not? It's not like my opinion on the subject of you sleeping with a married man matters much." He said without looking at me.

I felt a pain shoot through my chest at the bitter sweet, blurry memory. "Because I have no freakin' clue what the deal is. The man teeters between me and her more than a seesaw. Quite frankly I'm getting tired of it." I answered with a huff, understanding now why Hershel suggesting I shouldn't come with Daryl. I was getting short of breath easily.

"Is that why you've attached yourself to my hip?" he asked, not looking at me and I felt a small smirk play at the corners of my lips as I looked around.

"Maybe a little." I answered honestly. "But mainly because you're one of the few people in our camp that I can stand to be around." I once again answered honestly, but this one earned a scoff from him.

"You sure it has nothing to do with that fact that hangin' around me makes him jealous?" he asked.

"Not at first." I answered, feeling bad for bringing him into this mess. "But when he accused me of sleeping with you when we slept in the van…" I trailed off. "I'm sorry."

"Don't sweat it, Ballerina." He said, waving me off with the arrow in his hand. "Ain't the first time I've been accused of somethin' I didn't do, won't be that last."

"I have to ask though, why haven't you told anyone about what you heard at the CDC? I didn't exactly ask you to keep my secret."

"What, you want me to tell everyone you're a home wrecker?" he asked and even though I could tell that he was just joking it still hurt and I couldn't respond. He glanced at me to see what I'm sure was a hurt look on my face. "I ain't judgin' and it ain't my secret to tell." He assured me before we started looking in silence again other than occasionally calling out for Sophia. Eventually though, the woods broke into a clearing that led to an old, run down white house with a red roof.

"Think she's inside?" I asked, pulling my knife out of the sheath on my hip as we neared it.

"Could be." he answered before he walked up the small steps and kicked in the door. "Stay behind me." he warned.

I snorted. "What happened to 'she seems smart enough to watch her own back'?" I asked.

"I'm askin' you to watch mine." He grunted with a quick look back at me.

"Oh." I said as we walked into the house. As we walked through I kept a look behind us so that we had eyes in all directions. After we completely searched the bottom floor for walkers, we started really looking around. He noticed a can of sardines in that trash and I pointed to the cracked door. I walked quietly around the table in the room and pulled the door open, he pointed his crossbow inside, just to discover that other than some canned goods, and a little bed on the floor it was empty. "Should we take this stuff?" I asked, pointing to the things on the shelf.

"Na, if it's her that's been staying here, then she'll need them if she comes back." He explained and I felt stupid for not thinking about that. We searched the upper floor to no avail then headed back outside. "Sophia!" Sophia!" he called as we walked out of the back door.

"Sophia!" I called, as I walked one way and he walked the other. "Sophia!" I called again, peeking around the corner of the large house just to see nothing. When I turned back to look for Daryl I saw him walk over to a couple of flowers and kneel down. My curiosity made me walk over and ask. "Didn't take you as a flower enthusiast."

"There's a lot you don't know about me." he grunted as he stood up with a flower in his hand.

"It's pretty." I admitted as I took in the wide white petals and yellow center. "What's it called?"

"A Cherokee rose." He answered as we started walking again.

"With a name like that, it has to have a story behind it." I guessed as we walked along back toward the farm.

"It does." He replied, but didn't elaborate.

"Wanna tell it to me?" I asked, fighting back a laugh.

"Story is, when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer. Asking for a sign to uplift the mothers spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mother's tears fell." We both got quiet when the story was over.

We were pretty close to the farm when I asked, "So the rose…it's for Carol?"

"Figured it might help." He answered so I stopped and picked up an empty brown beer bottle.

"Then it's gonna need water." I handed him the bottle and he smirked.

When we got back to camp, we went separate ways. He headed toward the RV while I headed over to where I had put my tent and duffle bags. They were exactly where it left them so I took off my gear and started setting up the tent. When I was done, I headed to the house with my freshest clothes in hand, heading to the showers. Lori was on her way out of the house as I headed in, and she completely ignored me. Not that I minded.

I was headed to the bathroom when I passed Carl's room. "Since you're in the club now, you get to wear the hat. Didn't you know?" hearing Rick talking to his son made my feet take me to him instead of the bathroom. I walked into the doorway and stopped to see Carl smiling as Rick set the hat on his small head. "We'll pad the Rim tomorrow so it sits better."

"Won't you miss it?" Carl asked, not seeing me in the doorway.

"Maybe you'll let me borrow it from time to time." Rick said with a smile.

"We can share it." Carl smiled at his dad before he saw me in the doorway. "Joanna, did you find her? Dad said you and Daryl went out looking for her." the boy asked hopefully and my heart fell as Rick looked up at me.

"No, Carl, I'm sorry. We didn't." I answered with a sad head shake.

"You need to get some sleep, okay?" Rick asked as he pulled the sheets up over his son, who nodded and pulled the hat down over his eyes.

Rick finished tucking him in before he walked over to me and we stepped out into the hallway. "He looks like he's doin' better." I said with a small smile that Rick returned.

"He is." he nodded before his smile fell. "Enjoy your walk with Daryl?" he asked with a tinge of jealousy in his voice.

"It wasn't a walk, it was a search party. But since you asked, yeah." I answered, gripping my clothes tighter to my chest.

"I don't think you should spend so much time with him." He said with glaring eyes and a tilted head.

"Why, you afraid of a little competition?" I asked, implying something that wasn't even true. He just glared at me. "Hmm, you're not talking. I'm not surprised. See that's something I actually like about Daryl. I ask a question he answers, no bullshit, no dancing around it." I gave him the chance to say something and he didn't. He just squinted at me then looked at the floor. "Goodnight, Rick." I said as I turned to walk away, but he caught my wrist at the last second making me turn back around.

"Am I losing you?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"I don't know." I answered a little teary eyed. "No, er, yes…" I tried to fight though whatever was going on in my head. "Maybe." I finished before I pulled my hand from his and headed to the bathroom to shower.

When I came back out the sun had set and I was headed to my tent when I heard someone say, "Hey." I stopped and looked toward a random tree in the yard to see a moon illuminated Daryl walking over to me. "You mean what you said about me?" he asked, walking beside me as I headed toward my tent.

"What are you talkin' about?" I asked, coming to a stop in front of my tent.

"I was comin' out of the bathroom and heard ya talkin' to Rick." He said and I sighed as I tossed my dirty clothes into the open flap of the tent.

"Oh, about you being a no bullshit guy?" I asked and he hummed out a yes while biting the inside of his cheek. "Yeah."

"Well, don't." he grumbled as he gripped the strap of his crossbow tightly.

"Excuse me?" I asked, not understanding what I shouldn't do.

"I don't need ya talkin' me up to the boss man." He said as he started walking away from me.

I couldn't help but run after him. "Are you seriously mad at me?" I asked, taking a swipe for his wrist to get him to stop following him, but he pulled away. "Look I take it you're not used to getting compliments, so I'm only gonna say this once." I said running around to get in front of him and he stopped when I put my hand on his chest and pushed him back.

"I ain't ever hit a woman before." His tone was warning, but if he did hit me then…whatever.

"Good that only helps prove the point I'm about to make." I countered and he just glared at me with his water blue, moon lit eyes. "You are a good man, Daryl Dixon. You are helping look for a lost little girl when no one would blame you for sitting it out. You don't judge people. You bring flowers to a distraught mother." He snorted at me for bring up the Cherokee rose. "The first thing I noticed about you when I came to camp, you were feeding people you barely knew. You tracked a deer for day's so they would have something to eat. Even if you mainly did it for you and your brother you were willing to share with everyone. When you came back to camp after looking for your brother you didn't say to hell with y'all and only protected yourself. No, you joined in and helped protect the camp. When Jenner-"

"Alright I get it, damn." He grumbled, getting me to stop, but I didn't.

"No, I don't think you do. I wasn't ' _talking you up to the boss man_ ' I was using truth to make him jealous. And I thought you were okay with me using you to make him jealous. Was I wrong?"

"Nope." He answered shortly with a head shake, still chewing on the inside of his cheek.

"Good, because I thought we were friends and I don't have many of those. So we good or are you gonna get pissy every time I say something nice about you?"

"We're good." He said with a head nod and this time when he tried to walk off I let him.

Once I was alone in my tent, laying on my cot, my train of thought started rolling. Rick had asked if he was losing me to Daryl and I told him maybe. Did I mean it at the time, but the more I thought about it the more I asked myself if I was starting to feel something for the rough neck. I mean, the man did have his good points. I meant everything I said to him and now that I thought about it he wasn't bad to look at. Actually he was pretty nice to look at. But at the same time, I still felt something for Rick. And I didn't even know if Daryl was interested in me that way, but if he wasn't then why was he letting me use him to get back at Rick?

Eventually all of these questions faded and I fell into a world of dark places and night terrors.


	9. Chapter 9: The Revelation

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter one.

 **The Revelation of The Other Woman.**

 **ChapterNine:** The Revelation.

I woke up, washed my clothes and had already hung them out to dry before most everyone else was even up. So while Lori and Carol were hanging clothes, I was sitting at the campfire, reading a book, minding my own business. It was only when Rick walked past and said "Morning guys. Let's get going." That I looked up from the smelly, old pages of Dale's book. "We've got a lot of ground to cover." So I closed the book, walked past my tent, chunking the book on my cot as I did, then headed over to the yellow suv. Andrea, T-Dog, Daryl, Shane and myself were all present. Shane pulled open the passenger door of the car and sat down. "All right, everyone's getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far." Rick was explaining as Jimmy, who I gathered was the boyfriend of Hershel's younger daughter, Beth, walked up.

"I'd like to help. I know the area pretty well and stuff." He said with his hands in his pockets.

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, yeah. He said I should ask you." Jimmy explained.

"All right then. Thanks." Rick told him then turned back to the map that was on the hood.

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me." Shane spoke up. "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea asked.

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high." Daryl said and I stepped up to stand beside him.

"It was a pretty small space. No adult would have slept there." I added and Andrea felt the need to roll her eyes.

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." Rick said with a nod.

"No maybe about it." Daryl said with a scratch of his nose as he stepped up to the map. "I'm gonna borrow a horse and head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid." He said as Dale walked up with the bag of guns and sat them on the hood. "If she's up there I'll spot her."

"Good idea." T-Dog said. "Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there too.

"Chupacabra?" Rick and I asked at the same time.

"You never heard this?" Dale asked with a look at us before he pulled a gun out of the bag. "Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra." He set the gun on the hood of the car.

Jimmy laughed and I smiled. "What are you braying at Jackass?" Daryl asked Jimmy not having seen me smile where I stood behind him.

"So you believe in a blood sucking dog?" Jimmy asked.

"You believe in dead people walking around?" Daryl countered.

Jimmy just shook his head then reached for the rifle sitting on the hood of the car. "Hey, hey. Ever fire one before?" Rick asked as he took the gun from the young boy.

"Well, if I'm going out, I want one." Jimmy said meekly.

"Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees." Daryl said as he tossed his bow over his shoulder and started to walk off, but stopped as if he forgot something. "You coming?" he asked me and I froze.

"Uh…you're… riding a horse?" I asked and he nodded.

"She's not gonna go." Rick spoke up for me with a laugh.

"Oh, yeah?" Daryl asked as he walked back over to Rick. "And why's that?" he asked and I noticed his chest puff out a little.

"Because Joanna hates horses." Rick answered and Daryl looked over at me.

"I don't hate horses." I said defensively with a look at Rick before hesitantly turned my eyes up at Daryl. "Okay, so I hate horses…and heights." I admitted before I turned my eyes to the ground.

"Suit yourself." Daryl said, deflating a bit as he started walking off.

Shane offered for Jimmy to come to gun training tomorrow, before Rick started splitting people up. "Andrea, T-dog, I want you guys…" I realized then that if I stayed here, I would have to pair off with Andrea and T-Dog or Rick and Shane. I didn't want to spend a large amount of time around either of those people. If I went with Rick and Shane, who's to say that Shane wouldn't bring up what we talked about back at the church. What if our secrets were laid out to air? So in a spur of the moment decision, I decided to catch up with Daryl.

"I think it would be best if everyone stayed in pairs." I spoke up interrupting whatever Rick was saying. "I'm gonna go with Daryl." I started walking off, but Rick caught up with me.

"Hey, you sure?" Rick asked. "I know it's dangerous for you to be around Andrea, but you can come with Shane and me."

"Yeah, I'm sure." I said with a nod. "Daryl won't admit it, but I think he needs someone to watch his back." I pulled an excuse out of thin air.

"Joanna, I wish you would just come with us, it's safer." He argued.

"I'll be fine. I'm a big girl. I don't need you to protect me." I told him before I turned and started walking toward the stables.

* * *

"You changed your mind." Daryl observed as I walked into the entrance of the stables, but no further.

"Yeah, if it's still okay with you?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest uncomfortably.

"Mmhmm." He hummed as he saddled the horse. "Why'd you change your mind?" he asked.

"Because pairs seemed like a better ratio." I said giving him the same excuse that I gave Rick.

"You're a bad liar, you know that?" he asked, buckling a buckle around the horse's torso.

"Yeah, well…sometimes a lie is easier to say than the truth." I sighed and he just glanced at me before he mounted the horse. When he road it over to me I jumped back and he chuckled. "Just come on." He said, holding his hand out to me and I hesitantly grabbed it. I yelped when he suddenly jerked on my hand pulling me up before I even knew what had happened.

It was quiet for a while as we road through the woods, scanning them for any sign of Sophia. When Daryl pulled his crossbow off of his back I thought he had spotted a walker, but I didn't see anything. As my eyes followed the direction that he sent the arrow flying in I realized he'd shot a squirrel. I laughed as we rode over and he pulled the bolt from the tree the pulled the small animal off of it. Shortly after that the creek came into view and we started riding along it, keeping an eye out. As we did, I noticed something that looked like an old doll hung up on a fallen log that laid across the water. "Do you see that?" I asked at the same time Daryl pulled the horse to a stop.

"Whoa." He told the horse then looked at me. "Yeah." He told me gruffly as he got off and handed me the rains and started down the slope to the creek.

"I guess I'll just stay here then." I said more to myself than him, but he looked back and smirked at me, knowing I was too scared to get off of the horse by myself. So I sat there stiffly and watched as he picked up the doll then called out for Sophia. But as I looked around, hoping to see the little girl's face, I saw nothing out of the ordinary. When I looked back to Daryl, he just shook his head and started back up the hill.

"Here, hold this." he said as he held the doll up to me and I took it, rang some of the water out of it and tucked it into the messenger bag over my shoulder as he got back on the horse. We started riding along the creek again and things were going smoothly until the horse got spooked by some birds that flew out of a bush near it. I tensed and my hands flew from where they had been gripping the saddle blanket to grip Daryl's sides. "Easy." He said, calming the horse before he looked back at me. "You good?"

"Mmhmm." I hummed as I made myself let go of him.

He just chuckled as looked straight ahead then clicked his tongue making the horse start walking. We had moved a few more feet forward when the sound of a snakes hiss hit my ears, the horse reared up and started whinnying. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Daryl tried to calm it, but it did nothing to keep the horse from rearing up and bucking us off.

We tumbled down the slope, stick's stabbing me in the sides along the way. Then when dirt turned to wet rock I started sliding. In the moment, I used my hands to try to stop myself, but all that earned me were some cuts on my palms. Then when I got to the bottom I somehow managed to land on my wrist. A sound that resembled the breaking of celery ripped through the air as a sharp pain shot through my wrist and up my arm. I screamed out in pain and turned onto my back, not caring that the nasty creek water was soaking me to the bone.

"D-Daryl!" I yelled.

I got a "Son of a bitch." In response followed by grunts of pain and panting. It wasn't hard to tell that Daryl was hurt too.

I cried out as I attempted to move, using my good hand to push myself up. My hurt wrist stayed tucked to my chest as I stumbled and tripped my way to the bank. When I sat down in the wet sand I looked up and noticed Daryl making his way over with an arrow sticking out of his side. "How bad…is it?" I panted, from both pain and adrenaline.

"I'll live, I hope." Daryl panted back then pointed to my arm that was still cradled to my chest.

"I think it's broken." I answered then used the water to attempt to wash the blood off of the deep cuts in my palm. When I heard the ripping of fabric I looked over to see Daryl cutting off the sleeves of his shirt. I just watched as he tied the sleeves together then tied them to the arrow in his side. "Daryl, we need to get that out of there. It'll be easier to bandage." I tried. He just ignored me and stood up so I stood up and walked over to him. "Daryl, come on. Either pull it out or let me. You're gonna lose too much blood if you leave it in." I tried as I put my hand on his shoulder getting his attention. "Please?"

He nodded his head and untied the string of fabric from around it. "You ready?" I asked, gripping the arrow with my good hand and he nodded. "On the count of three." I told him and he readied himself. "One," I jerked the arrow out on two making him groan out in pain.

"What the hell happened to two and three?" he asked doubling over as he panted out a few breaths.

"If I pulled it out on three you would have tensed and made it cause more damage on the way out." I sighed as I walked around him and took the strips of cloth out of his hand. "Lift up your shirt." I told him as I flattened out the strips and attempted to clear some of the sand off of them.

"No." he grunted as he stood up.

"Would you stop being so freakin' heard headed for two seconds and let me help you?" I asked, raising my voice and he nodded. "Thank you." I said as I pulled the red shop rag, the cleanest bit of fabric I could find, out of his back pocket and ripped it in two. I placed one piece over the entry hole and one over the exit then wrapped the wet shirtsleeves around his torso and tied it as tight as I could. He grunted, but didn't complain. When we heard a rustling in the bushes not far from us Daryl made a grab over his shoulder for his bow that wasn't there. "I'll go find it." I told him as I started toward the water, but he put his hand on my shoulder stopping me.

"You've done enough." he grunted so I watched as he grabbed a long strong stick and walked out to where he had fallen and started fishing for his bow. It didn't take long before he pulled it from the water and walked over to me. "Okay, one of us has to climb up. I'm guessing it ain't gonna be you." he said with a pointed look at my hurt hand.

So I watched him slowly make his way up the side of the cliff and he got almost half way before he lost his grip and fell. "Daryl!" I called as I ran over to where he landed. "Daryl?" I asked as I slid to a stop as his side, but his eyes slid shut. "Damn it." I hissed to myself. After a few seconds I pressed my finger tips to his jaw line, right below his ear to feel that he still had a pulse. As I sat with him I noticed the suns movement. We'd been here for at least an hour. "Come on, Daryl, wake up please." I said as I gave him a small shake. Instead of waking Daryl, my voice drew a walker out of the bushes. As I watched what used to be a young man in a plaid jacket stumble towards me I grabbed at my hip for my knife to see that it was gone. It must have gotten ripped off my belt on my way down. I cursed to myself as I looked around for something to kill the walker with. My eyes landed on the knife on Daryl's hip so I took it.

I walked up to the walker and placed my armored forearm on his chest pushing him back. It's hands grabbed for me only to scratch against the plate over my back. Pain shout through my wrist from the pressure the walker was putting on my arm, but when I got the chance I plunged the silver blade into the walkers head. It sank to the ground taking me with it. My insides sank when I heard another walker not far away. As I pulled myself from the ground it came around the corner reaching out for me. But it didn't have a chance to get me because an arrow flew past me to sink into the walkers head. I yelped and jumped back to see Daryl smirking at me. "You ready to get out of here?" he panted tiredly.

"Yeah, but first…" I said as I walked over to the walker I had killed and took its jacket off.

"What are you doin'?" Daryl asked before I plunged his knife into the dead things abdomen and started hacking.

"Creating walker repellant." I answered then started rubbing the jacket around in the horrid blood. "We're weak. If we run into more of those things this will help us go unnoticed." When I looked up from what I was doing, I saw him looking at me like I was the smartest person he knew. "It's how I stayed alive when Rick and I were at the hospital." I explained as I held the jacket out to him but he waved me off. "Okay, suit yourself." I shrugged the put on the jacket and zipped it up as much as the broken zipper would allow.

This time we climbed the steep hill as a team. Inch by inch, foot by foot we struggled together. Daryl acted as my second hand and when he temporally lost his strength I somehow managed to catch him. He made it to the top first then held his hand out for mine and struggled to haul me up. When I stood up and looked around myself I realized that we were going to have to walk back on foot. Our horse had abandoned us. It was then that everything that had just happened sank in and I started to feel the familiar tightness in my chest. But Daryl started walking, giving me no time to have the panic attack that I felt coming on. So I just walked after him, focusing on forcing air in and out of my lungs. It kept the attack at bay, but did nothing to ease the tight feeling in my chest.

It was only hours later, when we stepped out of the woods and the farm house came into view that I started to feel better. Daryl no longer held his bow on his back, but instead dragged it behind him. Just like I no longer had the energy to clutch my hand to my chest. My arms swayed at my sides and I walked, tiredly to toward the house.

I mainly looked at my feet as I walked, but when I heard panting and the thud of footsteps coming our way I looked up to see Rick pointing a gun at Daryl while Glenn, Shane and T-dog stood not far behind. "Is that Daryl and Joanna?" Glenn asked, not being able to recognize us in our dirty, bloody, tired state.

"That's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl growled out and Rick dropped his gun.

A second later a shot rang out and I felt a white hot pain shoot through my head, pushing me backwards. "No!" I heard Rick scream before everything went black.

* * *

I came to slowly, my scenes awakening one by one. The first thing I noticed was the scent of rubbing alcohol that burned my nose. Then came the sound of light breathing to my left. As my sense of touch woke up I noticed the itchy, tight feeling of something wrapped around my head, but when I tried to lift my hand to feel of my pounding head I couldn't. Something warm and heavy was holding it down. So I opened my eyes to see that Rick was holding my hand in both of his that he rested his head on. So I lifted my other hand, intending to run my fingers through his hair and get his attention, only to find that it was incased in a heavy white cast. A tired sigh left my parted lips, making Rick's head shoot up. "You're awake." He sighed in relief. "How do you feel?"

"Like I was run over by a freight train." I sighed. "What happened?" he glanced up at my head then my hand. "I know what happened here." I said as I held up the ugly white casing. "But what happened to my head?"

"You were shot, but it just grazed you." he answered stiffly still holding my free hand.

"What? By who?" I asked, anger clear in my voice as I tried to sit up on the side of the bed, causing pain to shoot through my sore muscles and I groaned.

"Whoa, slow down." Rick said, putting his hands on my shoulders as he helped ease me into a sitting position on the side of the bed. "Take it easy."

I took a moment to let my head stop swimming before I looked up at him. "Who shot me?"

"Andrea." He answered hesitantly.

"I knew she'd try to kill me sooner or later." I sighed bringing my free hand up to touch the stitches that I could feel under the gauze wrapping.

"She thought you two were walkers, she was trying to protect the camp." Rick defended and I waved him off.

"I'll take care of her later." I said and he gave me a look that told me to behave, making me smirk at him. But as I remembered that Daryl was hurt too my smirk faded. "How's Daryl?" I asked and Rick stiffened.

"Hershel stitched him up, he'll be okay." I breathed out a sigh of relief at his words and it fell quiet for a while.

I was about to break the silence when the door cracked and Lori stuck her head in. "Dinners almost ready." Her tone was flat and as her eyes traveled to me her features hardened.

"We'll be down in a minute." Rick told her with a subtle hint of finality in his voice. She just nodded and left, shutting the door as she did. When we could no longer hear her footsteps Rick walked over to kneel down between my knees as he took my hands in his. "Joanna, I-"

"Don't do this Rick, whatever you're gonna say…just don't." I sighed and tried to take my hands from his, but he wouldn't let me.

"No, Joe, you need to hear this." he said so I sighed and gave in. "When I saw that bullet hit you… And all I could think was please, God, not her. I thought I lost you, for good." I could tell that what he was saying wasn't easy for him to say. "And it made me realize that I am wasting time trying to fix something with Lori that's pointless to try to fix."

"What are you saying right now?" I asked, feeling tears stinging the back of my eyes.

"I'm leaving Lori. Tonight after dinner I'm going to tell her that it's over." He said as the first three words he said sank in.

"Rick, you can't do that." I said as I stood up and turned my back on him. "Don't leave your wife for me. Don't… break up your family." I waited for him to say something. "Besides who said I'm still available?"

"You did." he said and I turned to give him a confused look. "When I was carrying you to the house you asked me not to leave you."

"I have no memory of that." I countered.

"That's because you were out of it." he argued.

"That still doesn't mean that I don't have feelings for Daryl." I shot back.

"You told me you loved me." he said as he put his hands on his hips.

"I did not." I argued even though I didn't doubt that I said I loved him in that moment.

"You did." he said with a glare and a shake of his tilted head.

"Well you said it yourself, I was out of it. I obviously said stuff I didn't mean." I countered getting flustered at myself for not remembering telling Rick such an important piece of information. Especially when I didn't even know if this particular bit of information was true. Did I love Rick, or was it just silly fascination caused by unusual circumstances?

"Why are you fighting this?" he asked getting just as flustered and aggravated as me.

"Because I don't want to be _that woman_ , Rick." I argued. "The woman that swoops in a rips a family apart. I don't want to be the reason you leave your wife and I don't want Carl to hate me for taking you from his mother. I never wanted any of this it just happened and I've been trying my best to right that wrong, to stand back up on my own two feet after falling for you and especially after the CDC." I was out of breath by the time I was done talking and he closed the space between us. He grabbed my waist and pulled me in. I unwillingly went to him.

"So you do love me?" he asked with a look down at me.

"I…I don't know." I stumbled over my words as I tried to think through the fog that being this close to him sent throughout my brain. "How am I supposed to know something like that when I don't even know how to take your coffee?"

"Two creams, one sugar." He answered avoiding my main point.

"Please, Rick, don't do this. Don't leave Lori. Just let go of me, walk out that door and we'll pretend that the CDC and this conversation never happened." I pleaded, fighting tears from my eyes as I placed my hands on his biceps and pushed, but he didn't let go.

"I don't want to forget this conversation or the CDC." He stated simply before he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. As much as I wanted to resist him, I couldn't. Rick's kisses always pulled me in like a fish on a hook. "Lori and I have been hanging on by a thread for years now and you were right. I've seen the way she looks at Shane." he said as he went to the door pulled it open and walked out.

* * *

I showered, which was fun with a cast on my hand that I had to keep dry, then headed down stairs for dinner. I was quiet in the dining room other than the clanks of forks on plates and people chewing. I felt like my chewing was the loudest where I sat between Carol and Rick at one end of the crowded table. "Does anybody know how to play guitar?" Glenn asked from where he sat at the kiddy table with Maggie, Beth and Jimmy, making things really get quiet. "Dale found a cool one." He explained and everyone looked at him making him laugh. "Somebody's got to know how to play."

"Otis did." Patricia spoke up making the mood in the room drop that much more.

"Yes, and he was very good, too." Hershel added then everyone started eating again.

"I know a little, but I don't know if I'll be able to with my cast." I said and Glenn nodded.

"You know how to play?" Rick asked from where he sat beside me.

"Ballet wasn't the only art I was interested in." I said with a shrug then turned my eyes back to my plate as things fell silent and it was back to the clanking of forks on glass. The only other thing that happened at dinner was when everyone noticed Glenn and Maggie passing notes like teenagers.

When dinner was over I thanked everyone who helped prepare it along with Hershel who supplied most of what we ate. Then deciding that Daryl deserved a thank you I headed in his direction. Carol was going down the stairs as I was headed up and she gave me a small smile as we passed. "Good night, Carol." I told her and she mimicked my words back.

When I got to Daryl's closed door I knocked. "Leave me be." he called, but I cracked it open anyway.

"Do I have to?" I asked and he hesitantly waved me in. I shut the door behind me then moved to stand at the foot of the bed. "How are you?"

"I've been better." He grumbled as he turned onto his back to see me better. "You?"

"Other than a broken wrist and having to refrain from knocking Andrea's teeth in, I'm peachy." I said motioning with my casted hand to the bandage that was wrapped around my head, covering my stitches. Daryl laughed at my anger toward Andrea. "Well, I just wanted to see how you were and say thank you, for helping me back there, havin' my back and all that." I said with an awkward nod.

"Any time." He practically whispered returning my nod.

"Goodnight." I told him as I pulled the door open he hummed back as I walked out and shut the door behind me.

* * *

The next morning was quiet for the most part. Usually I would have been up early doing what chores needed to be done, but do to the fact that I was basically one handed and had a headache from hell there was nothing I could do to help out. So I sat in my tent reading the book I had been working on. This is what I was doing when Andrea stuck her head in and gave me a tight smile. "Can I help you?" I asked with raised brows, surprised that she had the nerve to come talk to me.

"I uh, just wanted to bring you this." she said holding out a black paperback book by Jimmie Herron called "The Case of the Missing Man."

"No thanks I'm good." I told her holding up the book that was open in my hands.

"Yeah, I see that now." she sighed as she sat down on the stool that I had swiped from the barn. "I'm so sorry, I feel like shit." She apologized as she tossed the book onto my bag. "I don't expect you to forgive me, but-"

"Look," I started as I sat up and dog-eared the page of my book as I closed it and sat it beside me on the cot, "I don't like you. You're bitchy and think you need to be a big shot." She scoffed and leaned back with raised brows. "But you were trying to protect the group and I have to respect you for that." The words tasted like vinegar on the way out, but I hid the disgust from her as I stood up and ducked out of the tent. "Just…" I turned back around and leaned down to peer into the tent. "don't shoot me again, kay?" I asked with raised brows and a smart ass smile before I walked off.

I was headed to the farmhouse to use the bathroom when I walked past Lori and Glenn and his whispered "But you have to. You're pregnant." Hit my hears making me stop in my tracks.

Lori looked around to make sure no one heard him, only for her eyes to land on me. "I, uh…" I stumbled not knowing what I should say. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that." I said and I tried to walk off, but she stopped me.

"Joanna, wait." I didn't want to stop and talk to her, especially considering that just last night Rick told me he was going to leave her and now she's pregnant, but I couldn't just walk away from the odd tone of her voice. So I stopped and turned around. "Glenn only knows because he picked up the pregnancy test. Rick and I are trying to keep it quiet for now."

"Rick knows?" I asked and she just glared at me.

"Yeah, so you don't have to run to him and tattle." She said, getting back to her old self.

"I'm sorry, tattle? I'm not a little kid." I said standing up a little straighter as I glared back and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Really, could have fooled me." she asked with an attitude induces sway of her head. "Tattling to Rick about me and Shane?" she scoffed.

I felt my temper flaring and knew it would be best if I just walked away. "You know what? Screw you lady." I said as I started to walk off, but without thinking it through I turned back around to face her. "You know what? No, I'm sick of secrets and lies." I walked back over to look up at her. "I won't keep your secret. If someone asks I'll tell the truth. Oh and you want to talk about tattling?" I asked and she just stared down at me with wide eyes. "Rick and I had sex at the CDC. How's that for a tattle tale?" She gasped and looked down at me as if I had just turned into a walker. "We were drunk out of our minds and I actually believed that he would leave you. But you know what? He's never going to leave you now that you're pregnant even if he knows it not his, which I'm sure it isn't and you told him it is." she just looked down at the ground then back at me. "Hell I'm not so sure he ever intended on leaving you. Even when he promised me last night that he would I knew he wouldn't do it." At this point I was just thinking out loud not caring about what was coming out of my mouth or what affect it would have on everyone else. But as my thoughts circled around to the fact that Lorie was standing right in front of me I said, "So you two have a happy, lie filled marriage, because I'm done. With all of it, with the two of you… Just tell Rick next time you see him that I said to go screw himself." I told her as I turned and started walking away.

What had I just done? What had I been doing the past weeks? Becoming the type of person that I never wanted to be, a person that tore family's apart. The type of woman that would take a husband from his family, the same type of woman that tore my family apart. I had been telling myself this whole time that I hadn't chose any of this, it just happened to me, but that wasn't true. Every time I kissed Rick, kissing him the first time, I chose it. I could have not acted on what I was feeling, but I chose to go along with it. To do immoral things with a married man… I wanted to blame him, to be mad at him for starting this in the first place. After all, I didn't kiss him in that tank, he kissed me, but it wasn't his fault.

I knew he was married and I didn't care. It was my fault I turned into this and my falt alone.


	10. Chapter 10: Crap Hits the Fan

**The Revolation of the Other Woman**

 **Chapter 10:** Crap hits the fan.

I was sitting in my tent, glaring down at the floor when I heard Ricks voice outside. "Joanna, we're all heading to gun trainin', you comin'?"

"Nope, I'm good. I already know how to shoot." I stated flatly not moving from my spot.

He pushed the half zipped flap aside and stepped in. "Yeah, but we could use your help training the others."

"I said I'm fine." I snapped as I finally looked up at him to see him squinting down at me like he was confused. "Did you even try to tell her last night?" he just looked down at the ground.

"No…" he sighed and I just scoffed and threw the book I'd been holding, but not reading, aside. "The timing didn't feel right."

"Of course it didn't. You're too good a man to leave her in her condition." I sighed more to myself than him.

"I'm sorry her condition?" he asked completely confused now.

"She didn't tell you did she?" I asked.

"Tell me what?" he asked and I just busted out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Rick, get out of my tent." I laughed menacingly. He looked at me like I was going crazy as he ducked out of the tent.

He didn't know Lori was pregnant. She once again lied, probably hoping to trick me into keeping my mouth shut. Well, she got her wish, my mouth was shut and in that moment I decided that I wouldn't be around to tell him. I started packing my stuff. When everything was packed and the tent was clean I started putting on my riot gear. I was gonna need it out there away from this place and these toxic people.

I had my bag thrown over my shoulder and was headed for the front gate when Daryl's gruff voice hit my ears. "Hey, where you goin'?"

"I'm leaving." I stated before I heard grunts of him getting up off of his cot.

"Yer leavin'?" he asked and I wanted to turn and look at him, but I didn't. I just kept walking.

"Yep. I can't stay here anymore." I answered. I heard his feet practically running after me before I felt his calloused hand grab my wrist and pull me to a stop. My eyes met his for a split second before he looked down and let go of my hand. "What?" I asked with a sigh and a shrug.

"Why ya leavin'?" he asked simply with a hand on his hurting side.

"There's no simple answer for that." I answered not looking at him, but at the ground.

"So you're just goin'?" he asked and I didn't look at him. "By yourself with a bum hand and no one to watch your back?"

"I don't need anyone to watch my back, but if you want you can come with me." I offered.

"I have to look for Sophia." He stated simply and I instantly felt like shit. I had been so focused on myself that I forgot about the missing little girl. "I thought you were with me on that."

"I am." I said shakily and he scoffed. "Daryl, I am. I want to find that little girl just as much as you do I just…" I trailed off not knowing what to say. "God, I'm selfish." I sighed, fighting back tears of self loathing as I covered my eyes with my hand.

"So you're stayin'?" he asked and I slid my bag off of my shoulder to catch the strap in my hand.

"Yes, but as soon as we find Sophia I'm leaving and you're more than welcome to tag along." I told him as I turned my back on his and headed back to my tent.

* * *

Other than catching lunch at the camp fire, I spent most of the rest of the day in my tent reading the book I'd been working on. I had made up my mind. I didn't want Rick. Lori could have him, but it still hurt just being around him. So like I told Daryl, as soon as we found Sophia I was going my own way. I had to get away from Rick and Lori.

The sun had started to set when Rick barged into my tent. "What the hell?" I asked standing up at his intrusion.

"Lori's pregnant?" he asked and I didn't say anything. "She's pregnant, you knew and you didn't tell me?" he asked.

"Wasn't my secret to tell and it's not like you would have believed me anyway. You didn't when I told you about her and Shane." I said with a shoulder shrug.

"Yeah, but you were right about that." he said with his hand on his hip as he stared at the floor. "You've always told me the truth." He said with a sigh and watery eyes as he closed in on me with his hands ready to grab my face and kiss me. But I ducked, avoiding his advance.

"Stop it, Rick." I told him as he turned to look at me. "I've said it before, but I mean it this time. We're over. Whatever this was, it wasn't a relationship, not a good one anyways. A relationship built on a rocky foundation is destined to fail. Doing this with you has turned me into something I don't like and don't want to be."

"Okay." Rick sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded. "Okay, you're right." He dropped his hand from his face and looked down at me with watery eyes. "But when we…at the CDC…" he stumbled over his words but I waited for him to make his point. "We didn't use anything. Is there any possibility that you could be-"

"No." I cut him off and he squinted at me. "It's impossible."

"Well, were you on birth control?" he argued as if he were hoping I was so that he could have an excuse to be with me.

I felt a lump forming in the back of my throat. I'd never had to have this conversation with anyone before. As a dedicated dancer I didn't get much male attention. I was always working. "I'm telling you it's _impossible_ for me to be pregnant." I sighed as I sank down onto my cot.

"How do you know it's impossible?" he asked sinking down to kneel between my knees.

"Because I know okay!?" I snapped and he pulled back, shocked that I'd yelled at him. "I can't have kids."

"Why not?" he whispered.

"Because when I was nineteen I found out I had ovarian cancer." I said as the tears started slipping down my cheeks. "It caused permanent infertility."

"I'm so sorry." He whispered as he took my hands in his and I pulled them back.

"Don't be. I've come to terms with it." I said as I wiped my face. "I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but hat baby is a blessing. And rather it's yours or not doesn't matter. You're her husband so that automatically makes it half yours. And I'm not going to be the woman that takes a kids father from them." I said as I scooted to the side and stood up. "So you should go be with her." I pushed the door flap open and motioned him out.

He went without a word and I was thankful. Once he was gone I sank down on the cot and cried myself to sleep.

* * *

That morning we sat around the fire eating eggs that Carol cooked. I couldn't help but cast my eyes over to Lori and Rick who sat on the opposite side of the fire. She had her arm draped around his shoulders while he looked off into the distance, distractedly. But as my eyes left them they landed on Glenn, staring across the yard to where Maggie stood on the porch of the farm house shaking her head no. When Glenn looked away it was to look at Dale who shook his head yes. What the hell was going on around here? The whole camp felt awkward and just…off.

I glanced at Daryl, who was sitting on my right, to see if he noticed what was going on around us, but he just stared at his plate as he ate. "Um, guys." Glenn's voice pulled my attention back to him where he stood wringing his hands nervously. "So…" he started shakily and everyone else looked at him to see what he was so jittery about. "The barns full of walkers."

"What?" Rick and I asked at the same time while everyone else just stared at him.

Without much discussion we all headed to the barn to see if what Glenn said was true. Sure enough, when Shane walked up to the barn doors and peeked inside a walker slammed into them emitting a loud growl as it did. "You cannot tell me you're all right with this." he said with a glare at Rick as he stalked back over to where we all stood.

"No, I'm not, but we're guest here. This isn't our land." Rick practically growled back as Shane strode past him.

"God, this is our lives man!" Shane yelled in his usual hot headed way.

"Lower your voice." Andrea scolded Shane before she turned to Rick. "We can't just sweep this under the rug."

"It ain't right, not remotely." Shane babbled on as the rest of us just stood by. "We've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time."

"We can't go." Rick argued back.

"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane asked taking his hat off to wipe his brow before he put it back on.

"Because my daughter's still out there." Carol spoke up with her arms crossed over her chest uncomfortably.

Shane scoffed. "Okay…carol.." he practically laughed. "Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."

"Shane, we are not leaving Sophia behind." Rick said.

Then Daryl stepped up from behind Carol. "I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago."

Shane once again laughed. "You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll." From there the arguing and fighting escalated. After a few mean words from both of them they started swinging. But everyone broke it up and kept things from getting really bad. When Lori pushed Shane back and told him to back off he put his finger in her face "Keep your hands off me."

"Just let me talk to Hershel, let me figure it out." Rick said to a retreating Shane.

"What are you gonna figure out!" Shane shouted and charged at Rick, but Lori pushed him back.

"Enough." Lori yelled at Shane.

"Lori's right, that's enough." I spoke up and stepped into the area with Shane Lori and Rick. "I don't know what to do about that," I said with a point at the barn, "but I know one thing for sure. All of this? The arguing, and fighting and bickering, isn't gonna solve a single thing." I then turned to Shane. "You need to calm your ass down." I told him before I walked off and let Rick take it from there.

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land." Rick reasoned.

"Hershel sees those things in there as people." Dale said with a motion to the barn and we all turned to him. "Sick people. His wife, his stepson."

"You knew?" Rick asked.

"Yesterday I talked to Hershel." Dale answered.

"And you waited the night?" Shane asked.

"I thought we could survive one more night." Dane answered. "We did."

I scoffed and shook my head earning a glare from Daryl. "My God, another secret? Anyone else have anything they want to share with the group?" I asked sarcastically and everyone rolled their eyes.

From there the arguing continued until finally everyone dispersed from the barn except Shane and I, who hung back to examine the barn. After figuring out that it was totally secure, I sat down on the tire of a nearby lowboy to think. I jumped when something Shane did caused walkers to slam into the doors and looked up to see him reach for a gun that wasn't there. When her realized this he stopped and spit like a pissed off little boy. Then as he turned around to leave his eyes landed on me. "Hey, you said somethin' about secrets earlier, what did you mean?" he asked as he walked over to stand a few feet away from me.

"It's not really my place to say what the secret is, but I'll gladly point you in Lori's direction." I answered and he just shook his head.

"What do you think about all this?" he asked with a point at the barn, changing the subject.

"I don't like it, obviously, but there's nothing I can do about it. It's not our barn and it's not our land. And as willing as _I_ am to leave this place and frankly this group, you guys can't leave. Sophia's not the only reason y'all need to stay."

"What's the other reason?" he asked, fiddling with his hat in his hands.

"That's not for me to say." I answered, keeping Rick and Lori's secret. "But what I will say," I started as I stood up, "is that that temper of yours, won't solve anything. The only thing it'll do it get you killed." I told him before I walked past him headed to the stable that I saw Daryl head off to.

I passed Carol on the way there and noticed that she looked more upset than usual. "I wouldn't mess with him right now." she warned, but I kept on walking. I ignored her and kept going.

When I walked in he was doubled over holding his side. "Go away." he grumbled as he stood up straight, trying to pretend that he wasn't in pain.

"Na, I think I'll stay." I said nonchalantly as I crossed my arms over my chest and walked over to lead against the gate of an empty stall. "Wanna talk about it?" I asked thinking he probably wouldn't.

"She thinks Sophia's dead." He grumbled and I felt my heart drop. "How could she give up on her little girl like that?" he asked turning to me from the saddle he had been fiddling with.

"I don't know, I really don't." I sighed and he went back to his work. A few minutes later I spoke up again. "It's been two days since we found the doll. Maybe she's just lost hope."

"Yeah, maybe." He sighed, not wanting to talk much.

"Maybe you can find a way to give her a little hope." I suggested and it sounded more like a question. He just glanced at me and shook his head. "Okay, I'll see you later." I said just wanting to escape the awkward situation.

* * *

"Hey, has anyone seen Rick?" I asked as I walked over to the front porch where Maggie and Glenn sat on the steps.

"He went off with Hershel, we were supposed to leave a couple hours ago." Andrea answered as she and T-dog walked up.

"Yeah, you were. What the hell?" Daryl asked as he walked up behind me. "Damn it. Isn't anybody taking this seriously?" he asked aggravatedly. "We've got us a damn trail." He said turning toward the woods swinging his arm about in his usual style. "Oh, here we go." We all looked to see Shane walking over with a shotgun in his hand and the bag of other guns thrown over his shoulder. "What's all this?" Daryl asked.

As Shane walked by Daryl he handed him the shotgun. "You with me man?" he asked and Daryl took the gun. "Time to grow up." Shane told us as he neared the porch. "You already got yours?" he asked Andrea.

"Yeah, where's Dale?" she asked him.

"He's on his way." Shane answered a little too vaguely for my taste then handed T-Dog a gun.

"I thought we couldn't carry." He said taking the gun with a questioning expression.

"Yeah, we can and we have to." Shane answered then turned to everyone else and started giving a speech. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't." he walked over to Glenn and handed him a shotgun. "How about you, man? You gonna protect yours?" he asked. Glenn gave Maggie an apologetic look before he took the gun from Shane. "Can you shoot?" Shane asked Maggie as he turned to her.

"Can you stop?" Maggie countered. "You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."

"We have to stay, Shane." Carl said as he walked down off of the porch.

"What is this?" Lori asked as she walked over.

"We ain't goin' anywhere, okay?" Shane reassured Carl then started talking to everyone again. "Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He…well he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right?" he asked as he walked over a kneeled down in front of Carl. "Now I want you to take this." he held a pistol out to the little boy. "You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it."

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Shane, a grown man was giving a child a gun. I was going to say something, but that's when Lori stepped up and pushed her son behind her. "Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make."

"Oh shit." T-Dog said getting out attention and we all looked his way to see Rick, Jimmy and Hershel coming out of the woods with walkers on poles of some kind.

"What is that?" Shane asked as he took off running in their direction. Naturally we all took off after him. "What the hell are you doin'?" Shane yelled at Rick when we got near.

"Shane, just back off." Rick warned.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked.

"Are you kidding me? You see, you see what their holding on to?" Shane yelled circling Rick and Hershel like a mad man.

"I see who I'm holding on to." Hershel yelled back.

"Na, man, you don't." Shane argued while the rest of us stood back and watched. Daryl had his gun pointed at the walkers.

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk." Rick said.

"What you want to talk about, Rick?" Shane yelled. "These things ain't sick. They're not people. Their dead. Ain't gotta feel nothing for them cause all they do, they kill!" he yelled pacing around then as they made their way to the barn. "These things right here. They're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us unless we do something."

"Shane shut up!" Rick yelled.

"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something." Shane stated, pulling his gun from his hip. "A living, breathing person, could they walk away from this?" he asked before he shot the walker three times. Rick kept yelling at Shane to stop, but he didn't. "That's three rounds to the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that? Why is he still coming?" He shot it two more times. "That's it's heart, it's lungs. Why is he still coming?" he shot it three more times.

"Shane, enough!" Rick yelled.

"Yeah, you're right, man." He walked over to the female walker and shot her in the head "that is enough." He started pacing around and yelling some more. "Enough risking our lives for a little girl that's gone. Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us! Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before." He kept yelling, but I blocked him out to keep myself from sinking down into the attack that I felt coming on.

I tried to ignore everything going on around me and block out all the yelling, but when gun fire hit my ears I looked up to see walkers flooding from the barn. I was in shock, too stunned to move, but eventually I managed to take my pistol from my hip and start firing at the walkers. Shot after shot I took with one hand, taking down the horrid things that were coming after us.

Soon walkers were piled in front of the barn and more still came out. How could we have been sleeping so close to that many of those things without even realizing it? Eventually though, the walkers stopped coming and we all eased our guns down. That was until a lone growl pulled our attention back to the barn doors to see a little girl walk out. My heart fell when I saw the rainbow on her dirty blue shirt. Carol cried out for her daughter and made a run for the barn, but Daryl looped his arm around her shoulders, catching her before they both fell to the ground.

The little girl, who was no longer the Sophia we knew, started wobbling her way over to us where we all stood stunned and broken. None of us made a move and it was Rick who walked up and did what had to be done. After the little girl fell he stood there shakily looking down at her. As I looked over to Carol she got up, pushed Daryl away and ran off to the camper.

Beth, crying squeakily headed over to the dead, pulled a body off of her mother then turned her over. The young girl just wanted to grieve, but the walker of a woman reached out and grasped at Beth's hair attempting to eat the poor girl. Beth screamed as she was pulled away by Shane and Rick. She cried out as her mother's skull was kicked in an attempt to take her down. But it wasn't until Andrea took the walker down with a scythe that it stopped fighting. Beth clung to her father, crying, as he, Maggie and Patricia escorted her to the house. Shane followed behind them ranting and raving, but I stayed behind. I couldn't stop staring at Sophia. I knew it wasn't her anymore, just the shell of what she used to be, but it still hurt. I'd had hope that we would find her. That she would be out there hiding in a nook or cranny. But she wasn't. She had been in the barn the whole time.

When I took my eyes off of Sophia it was to look up at Daryl to see him shake his head and walk off. I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes and held it for a while before I blew it out. It didn't help much, but it calmed me a little. I needed space, so I headed to my tent, but when I walked by Lori and Carl I heard Carl say, "Like maybe she was hiding somewhere like in a cave or a tree. She'd be safe and I'd find her and bring her back."

I couldn't stop myself from kneeling down beside him as I put my hand on his shoulder. "I thought the same thing. I thought Daryl and I would find her, but…" I sighed and blinked back tears as I looked at Lori who looked back at me. I was surprised to find a look in her eyes that told me that she appreciated what I was saying. "But I guess that just not how it was meant to be."

Carl nodded and looked at his mom before he looked straight ahead and said, "He did the right thing, shooting her like that. I would have done it too." his words took me aback and I looked at Lori to see it had done the same to her.

We were both speechless for a second before she snapped out of it and asked, "Joanna, would you mind taking Carl up to the house.

"Yeah, of course." I answered with a nod and stood up.

"I want you to rest." She told Carl as she brushed his hair out of his face.

He gave her a nod and stood up to stand beside me so we headed to the house. On our way we passed Rick. "Hey, you dropped the hat." He told Carl as he put the sheriff's hat back on the boys head.

The two of us walked in silence until we got to his room. "You like my dad, don't you?" Carl asked as he hopped up on the tall bed.

"W-What?" I asked, completely thrown off guard.

"My dad, you look at him the way mom used to." He explained as he tucked himself into the thick blankets.

"What way is that?" I asked with a dry throat as I walked over to sit in the chair beside his bed.

"I don't know, but I've seen mom give Shane the same look, before you brought dad back." He said looking pensive.

"So your mom likes Shane?" The question flew from my mouth. I had no clue that such a young man could pick up on such grown up things.

"So you do like my dad?" he countered and I glanced down at my hands. "And Daryl." I glanced up at him with a tilted head, silently asking him what he was talking about. "I've seen him give you the look too."

"Wow you're observant." I sighed as I leaned back in the chair.

"And grownups are complicated." He said as he snuggled into the blankets.

"You're not wrong about that." I smiled and stood up. "Get some rest, okay?" I asked and he nodded as I walked to the door and turned out the light.


	11. Chapter 11: New Love, New Problems

**The Revolation of the Other Woman**

 **Chapter 11:** New Love, New Problems.

I passed Rick on my way back to the barn, but he didn't seem to see me and I could understand why. Nerves around camp were at an all time high for everyone. When I got to the barn everyone was gone. Shane, T-Dog, Jimmy, Andrea and Lori were digging graves under some trees to the left of the barn. Three bodies sat beside three holes. Sophia, Annette and Shawn lay beside the holes wrapped in sheets. "That's it." Shane stated letting everyone know the holes were deep enough.

"Joanna." Lori said getting my attention from where my eyes rested on the piles of dirt. "Would you mind telling Carol that its time?"

"Sure." I told her with a nod then headed off to the camper where I knew Carol would be. Daryl was sitting on the counter by the door when I walked in. "Hey." I told him with a sad smile before I turned to Carol. "It's time." She shook her head no. "Come on, Carol." I encouraged quietly.

"Why?" Carol asked and I sighed and let my head fall forward. I had a feeling she was going to pull away.

"Because that's your little girl." Daryl answered.

Carol just looked up at him and shook her head again. "That's not my little girl." I looked up at her words. "That's some other…thing." When she looked away from Daryl I looked up at him to see him glaring at Carol. He was mad at her for acting this way, it wasn't hard to tell. So I placed my hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him. He glanced at me with softened eyes then turned them back to Carol. "My Sophia was alone in the woods." Carol said not looking at us, but out the window. "All this time I thought… she didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago."

I felt tears slipping down my cheeks as I looked from her to Daryl. With a shaky hand I wiped them away and Daryl looked down at me. He no longer looked mad, just disappointed. "Are you coming?" I asked so quietly that I couldn't even hear myself. He bit his lip and nodded as he jumped down off of the counter and followed me out.

This funeral wasn't like the one they had for Otis. No words were spoken about how good of people they were. Everyone just stayed in their own heads, thinking their own thoughts. I was the last to leave the gravesite and as I looked to my left I saw Daryl walking off on his own. So I ran after him. "Daryl, wait up."

"What you gonna tell me goodbye?" he said but kept on walking.

"What?" I asked as I caught up to him and moved around to stand in front of him.

"We found Sophia, she's dead so bye. Have a good life." He scoffed and tried to walk around me but I put my hand on his chest stopping him. He glared down at me and there was something in his eyes asking, begging me not to go.

"I'm not going anywhere." I sighed and dropped my hand from his chest. "For you…for Carol…I'll stay."

He just glared down at me. "We don't need you."

A pain shot through my chest at his words even thought I knew they weren't completely true. His eyes were telling me he wanted me to stay. So way was he pushing me away? "Who says I don't need you?" I asked shakily. "Huh?" he just sighed and stared down at me through slitted eyes before he walked away.

I was sitting in my tent picking at some loose strings on my cast when I heard the tent flap rustling and looked up to see Rick. "Beth's in some kind of state of shock and Hershel's missing."

"Okay?" I asked with a sarcastic shoulder shrug.

"I was hoping you would come with Glenn and me to find him. We think he went to a local bar." He explained.

"Nope, I'm fine here. Search and rescues aren't my thing anymore." I told him as I stood up and pulled the tent flap aside for him to leave. He sighed and left without another word. Once he was gone I decided that I needed to put some distance between the others and myself. So I started packing up my things and broke down my tent.

As I was walking around in the back pastures, looking for a good place to set up camp I noticed Lori walking away from some trees that were near was looked like the fireplace of a long gone cabin. Peaked curiosity carried me in her direction. When I got close enough I realized she was walking away from Daryl. "Hey, I've been looking for you." Lori said as she passed me causing me to stare at her in disbelief. "I need you to run into town and bring Rick and Hershel back. Beth is getting bad."

I busted out laughing, causing her to stare at me like I was crazy. "Let me get this straight. You're husband runs off to play fetch and you want _me_ to go after him?" I asked and she nodded. "You have some nerve, lady. Find someone else to play fetch." She just stared at me as I kept walking towards Daryl.

When he saw me walking over he scoffed. "What you want me to go looking for your lover boy too?"

"He ain't my lover boy anymore." I stated flatly. "I'm not here to ask you to do anything." When I resituated the strap of my bag on my shoulder he glanced up at me and noticed the tent in my hand and sleeping bag on my back. "Except maybe let me camp out here with you, away from them." I asked and he just stared at me as he bit his lip and adjusted the grip on his knife. "Tell me no and I'll go away. I know how to take no for an answer." he looked at me for a little while longer then jerked his head over to where his tent was sitting still in it's bag on the ground. "Thank you."

Taking a tent down one handed was a whole lot easier to do than putting one up. I had managed to get the tent spread out and the poles slid through the top of the canvas, but pushing the poles up and securing them to the corners was a completely different story. I cursed and kicked at the tent as I stood up. Daryl glanced over at me and bit his lip then sat down the stick he was sharpening and walked over. He stuck the peg on the corner of the canvas into the pole without a word then walked over the opposite corner and did the same wile I held the first corner in place. We repeted these steps with the other pole then he helped secure the rest of the hooks on the tent to the poles. "Could of just asked for help." He grumbled as he walked off.

"I didn't want to burden you." I grumbled back as I tossed my stuff into the tent to be sorted out later.

"Ain't no burden." He called back at me as he scooped up his crossbow and tossed it over his shoulder. "I'm gonna go huntin'. Catch us some dinner." I smiled to myself as I watched him disappear into the woods.

While he was gone I took that time to set things up in my tent. He didn't get back until a little after sun set and by then my tent was in ship shape and I had a fire going. I watched him skin the squirrels and hang their skins on a line that he had strung between two trees. When he had them all skinned he handed them to me and I started cooking them. "Thanks for this." I told him with a motion to the squirrel that was starting to smell good.

He just hummed a you're welcome and when the food was done we ate in silence. The longer the silence went on the more I thought about what Carl had said about the way Daryl looks at me. and the more I thought about it the more I realized that if I hadn't been so distracted by Rick, my friendship with Daryl would probably be further along than it was now. If that was true, would we have grown to be more than friends? When I glanced up at him from the meat in my hands his eyes quickly moved down to the fire. Carl was right. He had been giving me the look when I wasn't looking. As I looked at him now I felt butterflies flutter in my chest and I smiled down at the squirrel in my hand then took a bite.

After we ate things got quiet and when the quiet started to get to me I moved to sit next to him on the log he was sitting on. He flinched away a little. "I know this is probably the wrong time, but I'm not seeing a better one on the horizon so I'll just ask."

"You gonna make a point anytime soon?" he asked gruffly as he went back to sharpening his knife.

"How do you feel about me?" I just spit the question out.

He visibly tensed. "What?"

"Carl said somethin' when I brought him to the house earlier today. Something along the lines of you look at dad the same why mom used to. The same way mom looks at Shane and Daryl looks at you." it was quiet for a minute. "He thinks that you like me."

"Kids more observant than I thought." He said and I smiled a little.

"So you do have feelings me?" Daryl bit his lip and nodded. So that was that. It seemed so simple, so easy. I like you. You like me. "You still mad at me…for wanting to leave?" I asked fiddling with some of the stuffing in my cast.

He turned to look me in the eyes. "Na, yer here now." I smiled at his words and as I looked into his fire lit blue eyes I found myself leaning closer. Our lips were an inch apart when we heard footsteps headed our way. We jumped and turned to see Carol running over.

"We can't find Lori and the others aren't back yet either." She panted out.

"That dumb bitch must've gone off looking for 'em." Daryl told her as he picked up a stick and started poking at the fire.

"What?" Carol asked.

"Yeah, she asked me to go. Told her I was done being an errand boy." Daryl answered.

"She asked me too. I told her the same thing." I spoke up.

Carol looked at us like she couldn't believe what we were saying. "And neither of you said anything?"

"I didn't think she would be dumb enough to go out looking by herself." I replied defensively.

Carol scoffed and started to walk away but she turned around and came back. "Don't do this, please." She was clearly talking to Daryl. "I've already lost my girl."

Daryl stabbed the stick into the fire and stood up. "That wasn't my problem neither." He growled as he walked off. I just looked at her apologetically then headed to my tent. I was sitting there reading a book by lamp light when I heard someone walking around outside. I glanced out of the half rolled down window flap and saw Carol looking at the squirrel hides on the string. "What are you doin'?" Daryl asked waling up behind her, startling her.

"Keeping an eye on you." Carol told him meekly.

"Ain't you a peach." He scoffed at her.

"I'm not gonna let you pull away. You've earned your place. And Joanna? She's only going to weigh you down." Carol pleaded with him.

"If you spent half you time minding your daughter business instead of sticking your nose in everybody else's, she's still be alive!" Daryl yelled getting in her face.

"Go ahead." She told him with a shrug.

"Go ahead and what?" he asked and she stayed quiet. "Man, just go! I don't want you here!" Daryl yelled at her and moved as if he was going to walk away, but he got back in her face. "You're a real piece of work, Lady. What, are you gonna make this about my daddy or some crap like that?" he asked then scoffed. "Man, you know jack. You're afraid. You're afraid 'cause you're all alone. You got no husband, no daughter. You don't know what to do with yourself. You ain't my problem. Sophia wasn't mine!" when his yelled words hit my ears a tear slipped down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away. "All you had to do was keep and eye on her!"

When they walked away from each other I watched as Daryl ducked into his tent. I wanted to go to him, make sure he was okay, but Daryl was Daryl and he needed time to cool off. So I laid down and turned out the lantern. As much as I wanted it to, sleep didn't come and finally I turned the lamp on and grabbed it and my sleeping bag and headed for Daryl's tent. "Hey, can I come in?" I asked. Instead of answering he unzipped the door flap and jerked his head for me to come in. "I don't really feel like being alone. Can I… sleep in here with you?" I asked and he nodded so I rolled out my sleeping bag and slid inside.

I watching him lay back down in his sleeping bag on his back and tuck his arm behind his head. After a while it started getting cold in the tent so I scooted over to lay closer to him, tucking myself into his side. He tensed, but didn't move. "What ya think yer doin'?" he asked as I felt his head shift to look down at me.

"I'm cold." I told him quietly. "Tell me to back off and I'll back off."

"Na, yer fine." He grumbled and surprised me when he wrapped his arm around my bare shoulders. We feel asleep like that.

###Insert Line###

I woke up before Daryl to find that he had turned over in the middle of the night and thrown his arm around my waist. His light breaths skimmed my forehead as my eyes took in the sunkissed skin of his chest that his half unbuttoned shirt reveled. My casted hand rested between us so I let my fingers play with the hair on his chest. This little movement caused him to groan and open his eyes. They found their way to my fingers in his chest hair, seeing what woke him, then up to look into mine. "Hi." I whispered earning a small smirk from him.

"Hi." He sleepily replied, surprisingly not taking his arm off of my side. "Surprised yer still here."

"Why wouldn't I still be here?" I asked as I started playing with his chest hair again.

"Wised up, realized I ain't no good for no one." He said with a shrug.

"I could say the same thing about myself." I argued. "But here we are and like I said before, I'm not going anywhere." I reached up and ran the little bit of my fingers that was sticking out of my cast over his scruffy cheek. Instead of flinching like he had in the past he sighed and closed his eyes, enjoying my touch. "I never knew what me and Rick were." My thought left my lips before I could stop it and he pulled slightly away as he opened his eyes to glare at me. "I just…I hated that. It was complicated and messy."

"Get to the point or I'm kickin you out." He grumbled even though he left his arms around me. I smiled to myself because it reminded me of when he said he would kick me out of his truck if I talked too much on the way to the cdc.

I sighed and leaned up to sit cross legged in my sleeping bag."I just need to know what we are. What you want this to be. I mean, are we just friends, bed buddies, or… are we together?" I asked nervously babbling like an idiot. When he didn't say anything after a few seconds I craned my neck around to look at him. He was just staring at me with those blue, naturally glaring eyes of his. When he still didn't say anything I felt a familiar tightening in my chest. "Please say something before I have a panic attack." I pleaded as I looked away and placed my hand on my chest then attempted to take a deep breath.

"Ain't never had a girlfriend before." He stated quietly and I looked back at him again. "Guess there's a first time for everything." I found myself laughing as the tightening in my chest eased and I fell back to lie on my sleeping bag. "What's so funny?" Daryl asked with a smirk down at me.

"I've never had a boyfriend." I said with a shake of my head.

"I don't believe it." he said as he propped his head up on his elbow and looked down at me.

"I've never had time for one before. I was always dancing. Then after all the chemo treatments and radiation I'd miss so much practice and time at the studio that I fell behind and lost my place in the company. After I got my energy back I put all of it on teaching." I explained as I looked up at the green canvas roof of the tent.

"You had cancer?" he asked and I turned my eyes back at him.

"Ovarian, when I was nineteen." I answered and I expected him to look at me like Rick did. Like what I had said was the saddest thing he could have ever heard. Instead it seemed like he was admiring me. In that moment I was so happy that without thinking about it I leaned up and pressed my lips to his. He flinched as if I had burned him and I pulled back afraid that I had taken things too far too fast. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

I was cut off when he pressed his thin lips back to mine. Tingles shot through my every limb when he threaded his finger through my short hair pulling my face closer to his. I didn't know what to expect from Daryl in the intimacy department, he was hard to read sometimes, but it wasn't this. I didn't think he would be the cuddly, gentle type. But he moved his hand from behind my head and caressed my cheek with this thumb then broke the kiss. Shocked in the best way possible, we stared into each other's eyes.

"Daryl, man, get up." Shane's voice outside the tent shattered the moment. "Rick and Glenn still ain't back. We're gonna go look for 'em."

Daryl sighed and sat up in his sleeping bag. "Yeah, whatever." he grumbled as he grabbed his bag out of the corner of the tent and started digging around.

When I was sure Shane was gone I went to my tent and started getting dressed. It was cold this morning so I slipped on a hunter green long sleeved shirt and a pair of dark grey yoga pants. I walked outside and tossed my riot gear onto the ground and sat down on a log near the still smoldering fire. When I looked up from the fire I saw Daryl glance over at me from where he stood pulling on his vest in front of his tent. "What?" I asked knowing from the look he gave me that he wanted to say something.

"You comin' with us?" he asked as he slung his crossbow over his shoulder then sat down on the log across from me.

"I was planning on it." I answered as I pulled my bangs up into a bump. "Do you think it's a bad idea?" I asked motioning to my cast.

"Na. You can handle yourself out there." he said with a shrug then things got quiet as I put on my riot gear. "You worried?" he asked with a glance up from the fire he was poking at.

"About what?"

"Rick."

"A little." I answered earning a look of jealously from him. "But not for my benefit, for Lori and Carl's."

"Thought you didn't like Lori." he pointed out.

"I don't, but she cares for Rick and Carl needs his dad. The poor kid already thought he lost his dad once. He doesn't need to lose him for real this time." Daryl just looked at me. Not with jealousy or the way Rick did, but like he was admiring me just for being . "What?" I asked with a small smile.

"Nothin'." He said then averted his gaze. When I was done putting on my gear we headed out.

We were putting gear into the back of Carol's suv when Daryl bumped me on the shoulder and jerked his head toward the road. The red and white suv that Glenn and Rick had left in pulled into the driveway. When Rick got out he made a b line for Lori and Carl, who cried out for his dad and wrapped his arms around his waist. When Glenn and Hershel got out I thought Maggie was running for her father, but instead she embraced Glenn. I could tell by the look on Hershel's face that she had hurt his feelings. But the old man just kept walking to the house. "Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery." He told the older woman as he passed her and she nodded.

I wanted to ask who needed surgery, but I didn't voice my question. Instead I watched Shane Rick and Lori talking about how Lori stupidly went off looking for Rick on her own and how Shane brought her back. "Who the hell is that?" T-Dog asked with a point to the suv and we all followed his finger to see a young man passed out in the back seat with a blind fold over his eye.

"That's Randall." Glenn answered with his arms folded over his chest.

"And Randall is…?" I asked getting some of the others attention as I stepped out from behind Daryl and crossed my armored arms over my chest.

"Let's have a group meeting in five, we'll discuss it then. For now Hershel needs to perform surgery on the kids leg." Rick answered before he walked off and the group scattered.

Since Rick was back I sat down at a nearby picnic table and started taking off my riot gear. When I was done I looked around to see that Daryl was nowhere to be found. So I dropped the gear off at my tent then headed to the house where most everyone was already gathered in the dining room. "We couldn't just leave him behind. He would've bled out, if he lived that long." Rick was saying as I entered through the door that led straight to the dining room and slid inside to lean against the wall next to the door.

"It's gotten bad in town." Glenn added.

"What do we do with him?" Andrea asked in her usual bitchy tone.

Hershel walked in drying his hands. "I repaired his calf muscle as best I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage." He explained the verdict of the surgery he performed on the kids leg that had gotten impaled by an iron fence. "He won't be on his feet for at least a week."

"When he is we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way." Rick suggested.

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea asked and I was about to speak against her when Daryl walked in. He gave Carol a nod then slid over to lean on the wall next to me.

"He'll have a fighting chance." Rick answered Andrea.

"Just gonna let him go?" Shane asked. "He knows where we are."

"He was blindfolded the whole way here. He's not a threat." Rick argued and as he eyes fell on Daryl and me his head tilted ever so slightly to the side, silently questioning why Daryl was standing so close to me. I can only assume that Daryl noticed the look Rick gave us, because Daryl awkwardly draped his arm around my shoulders.

"Not a threat. How many of them were there?" Shane asked pulling Ricks attention back to the subject at hand. "You killed three of their men, you took one of them hostage, but they just ain't gonna come looking?"

"They left him for dead. No one is looking." Rick argued.

"We should still post a guard." T-Dog spoke up.

"He's out cold right now, will be for hours." Hershel added.

"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy." Shane popped off as he started to leave the room. "Look at this folks, we back in fantasyland." He ranted.

"You know we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet." Hershel practically yelled after Shane. "Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all, this is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor…keep your mouth shut."

I couldn't see Shane from where I was standing, but I did hear the front door slam behind him on his way out. "Look, we're not gonna do anything about it today. Let's just cool off." Rick suggested and everyone scattered. Carol stopped next to Daryl giving him a look that told him she wanted to talk to him, but he rolled his eyes and stormed out. "Just give him some time. I'm sure he'll come around." I told her encouragingly. She just gave me a sad smile and patted me on the shoulder as she walked out the screen door.


	12. Chapter 12: The Invasion

**The Revolation of the Other Woman**

 **Chapter 12:** The Invasion.

I stood outside the shed where Randall was being held, listening to Daryl beat the shit out of him in an attempt to get information. I hated what Daryl was doing to the kid, but I knew it needed to be done. He wasn't getting anything useful until the kid finally said "Okay, okay. They have weapons. Heavy stuff, automatics. But I didn't do anything." He cried.

"Your boys shot at my boys, tried to take this farm. You just went along for the ride? You're trying to tell me you're innocent?" Daryl growled at the kid.

"Yes!" the guy yelled. "These…these people took me in. Not just guys, a whole group of them. Men and women, kids too, just like you people. I thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know?" he asked and I didn't hear anymore beating so I assumed that Daryl had stopped torturing him. "But we'd go out, scavenge, just the men. One night we…we found this little campsite. A man and his two daughters…teenagers, you know?" My throat tightened at the thought of where the boy was headed with this. "Real young, real cute. Their daddy had to watch while these guys…they…and they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just…they just made him watch as his daughters… they just…just left him there." I felt bile rise up to my throat but I forced it back down. "No, but…but I didn't touch those girls. I swear I didn't-" the kid was silenced with a thud and I had to walk away.

"Is there a plan?" I heard Andrea ask as I walked up to where most everyone else stood around the fire.

"We gonna keep him here?" Glenn asked Rick.

"We'll know soon enough." Rick said with a nod to where Daryl was walking over from the shed.

"Boy there's got a gang, 30 men." Daryl reported as he moved to stand beside me and I noticed the blood on his knuckles. "They have heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' to make friends. They roll though here, our boys are dead. And our women," he said with a quick look at me, "they're gonna…they're gonna wish they were."

My stomach rolled at the thought. "What did you do?" Carol asked, noticing the blood on Daryl's knuckles as well.

"We had a little chat." He answered as he moved around to stand behind me and Carol walked off.

"No one goes near this guy." Rick said before Lori moved to stand between us and him.

"Rick, what are you gonna do?" she asked.

He sighed. "We have no choice. He's a threat." He answered and T-Dog, Dale and Shane moved closer. "We have to eliminate the threat."

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked.

"It's settled. I'll do it today." Rick answered then walked away and Dale followed him.

* * *

I was sitting in Daryl's tent reading a book when I heard Dale talking to Daryl outside. "Torturing people, that isn't you. You're a decent man. So is Rick. Shane…he's different."

"Why's that?" I heard Daryl ask. "Cause he killed Otis?"

"He tell you that?" Dale asked.

"He told some story. How Otis covered him, saved his ass. He showed up with a dead guy's gun. Rick ain't stupid. He didn't figure that out, it's 'cause he didn't wanna. Like I said, groups broken." Daryl said before I heard his footsteps headed my way. A second later the door flap was opened and Daryl stepped in.

When Dale saw me inside the tent he walked over and kneeled down to look at me. "You can't tell me you're on board with Ricks plan."

"The guy watched his men rape two teenage girls in front of their father." I said getting sick to my stomach again. "If we let him go he'll go back to his people and bring them here. I don't want to be raped." I felt my voice quiver, but cleared my throat. "I don't want Maggie or Beth or Patricia or Lori or Andrea to go through that. I don't want to lose any more people. I'm not happy with the idea, but killing him is the only way to keep people safe."

"I can't believe what I'm hearing." Dale said with a shake of his head before he stood up and walked off.

Once he was gone I sighed and laid back on my sleeping bag and kicked my feet out in front of me. "You're scared." Daryl said making my eyes shift to him where he moved to lay on his side with his head propped up on his elbow. "Of what those men will do if they find this place."

"I'd love to say I'm not, but that would be a lie." I answered then turned my eyes back to the ceiling of the tent.

"Hey." He tried to get my attention and I just kept staring at the top of the tent. So he placed his pointer finger on my cheek and turned my face to look at him. "Ain't no one gonna hurt ya."

"How do you know that?" I asked sounding tired and I was. I was tired of all of the drama around camp.

"'Cause I got yer back." His words pulled at my heart strings and caused me to throw my arms around his waist. He stiffened for a split second, but eventually hugged me back with one arm.

* * *

I was hanging laundry on a line to dry when Rick walked up. "Has Dale talked to you yet?"

"Yep." I answered as I grabbed another shirt out of the basket and hung it up.

"And?"

"And I'll tell you what I told him. You're doing the right thing. Randall can't live if we want to keep this place safe." I pinned the shirt on the line and moved to grab another one, expecting him to go away after he got his answer, but he just kept standing there glaring at me with his hand on his hip. "What?" I sighed and he placed his hand on his hip.

"So you and Daryl are a thing now?" he asked and I stopped what I was doing.

"If by 'are we a thing' you mean am I with a man who respects me for me and dosen't make me feel like a terrible human being for having feelings for him then, yes. We're a thing." I answered sarcastically then turned to pin the shirt on the line. "And you know what?" I asked as I bent over and grabbed a pair of pants. "I'm happier than I've been in a _very_ long time."

"I'm happy for you." he said almost sarcastically, still glaring at me.

"I'm going to pretend that you meant that." I said under my breath as I pinned the pair of jeans on the line.

"Group meeting at sunset." He told me stiffly before he walked off.

* * *

Everyone stood gathered around the living room, all quiet. No one willing to speak up until Glenn did. "So how do we do this?" he asked where he sat on a bench at the piano. "Just take a vote?"

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.

"How about majority rules?" Lori asked from where she stood leaning against the doorframe to my right. I sighed and glanced behind me at Daryl who was leaning against a small cabinet to my left.

"Well, let's just see where everybody stands and then we can talk through the options." Rick spoke up as he turned from Lori to look at the rest of the room.

"Well, from where I sit, there's only one way to move forward." Shane spoke up from where he was leaning against the fireplace next to Andrea.

"Killing him, right?" Dale asked with a look at Shane then the rest of the room. "I mean, why even bother taking a vote. It's clear which way the winds blowing."

"Well if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know." Rick argued.

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group." Dale added. "Maybe just me and Glenn."

As everyone looked at Glenn he swallowed hard and Dale looked at him like he couldn't believe Glenn had changed his mind. "Look I think you're pretty much right about everything all the time, but this-"

"They've got you scared." Dale practically yelled at poor Glenn.

"He's not one of us." Glenn argued. "And we've, we've lost too many people already."

Dale waved his hat at Maggie and Hershel. "How about you, do you agree with this?"

Maggie crossed her arms over her chest and took a deep breath. "Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?"

"Just another mouth to feed." Daryl spoke up and when I looked back at him he had crossed his arms over his chest.

"And an unproductive one at that because I doubt we would risk putting him to work and taking the risk of him getting away." I added with a look back at the rest of the group.

"It may be a lean winter." Hershel spoke up.

"We can ration better." Lori added.

"Well, he could be an asset." Dale argued.

"Put him to work?" Glenn suggested.

"No, it's like Joanna said. We can't risk letting him walk around." Rick spoke up.

"We could put and escort on him." Maggie suggested.

"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane asked.

"I will." Dale spoke up and as much as I liked the old man he was fighting a losing battle.

"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy." Rick said putting his hand up, a sign to let the idea go.

"He's right." Lori added. "I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up."

"What she said." I spoke up as I pointed to Lori.

"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles and sentence him to hard labor." Andrea said in her usual tone.

"Look, say we let him join us, right? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice." Shane started talking. "We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his 30 men." His words made me tense and I guess Daryl noticed because he reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder for a second.

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt?" he asked and we all just stared down at the floor. "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."

I sighed and rubbed at my temples as I leaned back against the wall. "Could you drive him further out?" Hershel asked and I dropped my hand from my face. "Leave him like you planned?"

"You barely came back this time." Lori spoke to Rick while fiddling with the locket around her neck. "There are walkers. You could break down. You could get lost."

"Or get ambushed." Daryl added. And while I had heard him tell Dale that he didn't care what happened to Randall one way or the other I think I he did have an opinion, he just didn't want to voice it.

"They're right. We should not put our own people at risk." Glenn added.

"If you go through with it," Patricia spoke up for the first time, "how would you do it? Would he suffer?"

"We could hang him, right? Just snap his neck." Shane suggested.

Rick nodded. "I thought about that. Shooting may be more humane."

"What about the body? Do we bury him?" T-dog asked.

"Hold on, hold on." Dale started as he stood up again. "You're talking about this like it's already decided."

"You've been talking all day, goin around in circles." Daryl said pushing himself off of the cabinet he had been leaning on and twirling his finger around in the air. "You just wanna go around in circles again?" he asked pacing a little.

"This is a young man's life!" Dale yelled. "And it is worth more than a five minute conversation!" I sighed and looked at Daryl to see my expression of aggravation mimicked on his face. "Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us." He yelled at Rick. "He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"

"We all know what needs to be done." Shane spoke up.

"No, Dale's right. We can't leave any stone unturned here." Rick countered. "We have a responsibility-"

"So what's the other solution?" Andrea interrupted.

"Let Rick finish." Lori spoke up, but was over looked.

"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet." Andrea kept talking. "I wish we could."

"So let's work on it!" Dale yelled getting louder.

"Stop it." Carol spoke up. "Just stop it. I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this." she said pausing to look around the room. "Please decided, either of you, both of you, but leave me out."

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself. There's no difference." Dale said.

Rick stepped in. "Alright, that's enough." Dale shut up so Rick kept talking. "Anyone wants the floor before we make a final decision, now's their chance." He said as he motion with his hand for someone to step up and stepped back.

Everyone looked around at each other and no one stepped up. So Dale did. "You once said we don't kill the living."

"That was before the living tried to kill us." Rick argued.

"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were, the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's…harsh. It's…it's survival of the fittest." He yelled. "And that's a world I don't wanna live in. and I don't…I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please." He pleaded with tears in his eyes. "Let's just do what's right." It got quiet for a moment as he looked around the room. "Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

No one said a thing until Andrea of all people spoke up. "He's right. We should try to find another way."

"Anybody else?" Rick asked with a look around the room. No one spoke up and eventually Rick turned to Dale.

"Are y'all gonna watch too?" he asked with a sniffle. "No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being." He sighed and shook he head. "I won't be a party to it." he started out of the room but stopped when he walked by Daryl. He placed his hand on Daryl's shoulder and said, "This group _is_ broken."

That night I sat with everyone else around the camp fire while Shane, Daryl and Rick got the boy out of the shed and brought him to the barn. I never heard a gunshot and when Rick walked over to the camp with Carl in tow I knew he didn't go through with it. "We're keeping him in custody, for now." he informed everyone.

"I'll go find Dale." Andrea said as she walked off with a smile.

"Carl, go inside." Lori told her son. "Now, please."

Carl shook his head but went into the tent anyway. "He followed us." Rick said as he rubbed his fingertips across the pad of his thumb. "He wanted to watch." Lori looked at him, terrified of what was happening to their son. "I couldn't."

"That's okay." She told him as she placed her hand on his cheek. "That's okay." They hugged and the rest of us averted our eyes.

"I'm turning in for the night." I announced as I stood to leave, but screams hit my ears and everyone launched into panic mode. Lori screamed for Carl to get into the house and stay there.

"T-Dog, get a shotgun now!" Rick yelled and T jumped into action. I grabbed my pistol out of the back of my pants and headed off after Rick and T-Dog. We followed the scream to the field behind the barn, but we couldn't see where they were coming from. That was until we saw and heard Daryl waving his arms and yelled at us.

When I got close I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of Dale on the ground with his stomach torn open. "Oh, my god." I gasped and covered my mouth getting sick to my stomach as the familiar tightening in my chest hit me full force. Rick and Andrea kneeled down next to the moaning, man as he bled out.

I just watched, frozen as Hershel arrived on the scene and informed everyone that Dale wasn't going to make it. Everyone was crying, watching as he suffered and Andrea cried for someone to do something. Rick pulled out his gun to put him down, but couldn't do it. So Daryl took the gun from him. "Sorry, brother." these words spoken by Daryl were the last Dale heard before Daryl pulled the trigger and Dale stopped breathing for good.

I finally unfroze enough to sink to my knees and succumb to the attack that hung over my head. We were supposed to be safe here. We were supposed to be able to survive here but if walkers were getting in then…" a touch on my shoulder pulled me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see that the touch had come from Daryl. Most everyone else other than Andrea, Glenn and Rick had walked away. Daryl grabbed my hand and helped me up he didn't try to walk me through my attack. He just held my hand as we walked back to camp and that was enough.

Neither of us spoke until we were in the tent and by then the panic attack had subsided. "I'm sorry you had to do that." I said running a wet wash rag over my face.

"I didn't have to do nothing. Just figured Rick don't have to do all the heavy lifting." He mumbled.

"Either way." I sighed then wiped at a spot of dirt on my arm.

"Those panic attacks of yours." He started and I looked back at him already knowing where he was going with this. "You ever worry-"

"That they're gonna get me killed?" I finished for him than looked behind me to see him nod. "Sometimes." I answered then tossed the rag into the corner of the tent then laid back on his sleeping bag that he had unzipped and spread out to make a queen sized palette. "But then I remember that I've been dealing with them my whole life, I can deal with them for the rest of it. However long that might be. I won't let 'em make me weak."

"Good." I looked over at him. "Weak women ain't my thing." I just smirked at him as he laid down, tucked one arm behind his head then held his other arm out to me, wordlessly asking me to come to him. So I slid over, pulling my sleeping bag over us as I tucked myself into his side, using his shoulder as a pillow. "Hey," he whispered and I glanced up at him, "This," he motioned between the two of us, "it ain't just to get under Rick's skin is it?"

I sat up so that I could look him in the eyes. "I wouldn't do that to you." I answered. "I know I've used our friendship to get to him in the past, but this…" I motioned between the two of us then let my hand fall to rest on his chest, "this is more than friendship. I care about you too much to screw things up with stupid games." he smirked and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss lingered on for a few seconds before we pulled back to look at each other. "I have to admit, I didn't take you for the cuddly type."

"You complainin'?" he asked with a grunt making me smirk.

"Never." I whispered earning a small smirk from him. I smiled back as he cupped my cheek in his hand and caught my lips with his. He pecked my on the lips a few times before trailing kissed to my neck where he lazily nibbled then licked, pulling a quiet moan from me. The sound must a fueled his fire because his pace quickened and his hand slid from my face over my chest and down to grip my hip and pull me on top of him.

I sat up, straddling his hips as I stated unbuttoning his shirt. But he caught my wrists in his hands stopping me. "Don't." he told me stiffly making me frown.

"Why not?" I asked moving my hands around in his loose grip to thread my fingers thought his.

"It ain't pretty." He answered quietly with a glare.

"I've seen you shirtless before, remember?" I asked as I fell forward pinning his hands above his head. "I've seen your scars." I pressed my lips to his and he kissed me stiffly back. "They don't bother me." I kissed his neck and he sighed and tilted his head to the side. I nibbled on his ear then whispered, "Okay, your shirt can stay on, but mine's coming off." I sat up and pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it to the side, showing off not only my pink and black lace up sports bra but also the long curved horizontal scar on my lower abdomen.

He reached out and gently slid his pointer finger over it then with a grunt he rolled us over and stood on his knees. He finished unbuttoning his shirt, peeled it off and tossed it aside. The first thing my eyes landed on was a scar that was slashed across his collar bone. Without thinking about it I reached up and gently touched the skin beside it. I wanted to ask who did this to him. Who was the heartless bastard that marred his beautiful body? But I knew that if he wanted me to know he would tell me when he was ready. So instead of asking, I placed my palm flat on his shoulder then slid it down to grip his arm and pull him down to me.

As his lips assaulted my neck my un-casted hand felt and massaged everywhere it could reach while my casted hands rested on his side. There was no more discussion, no pauses or hesitations. Just pure pleasure as we explored one other. Even after we made love, when we lay on the sleeping bag trying to catch our breath, no words were spoken. He just pulled me into his side and tugged my sleeping bag over us and we drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning a service was held for Dale. Rick gave a speech. "Dale could get under your skin. He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave whenever I'd make a decision I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us, the truth, who we really are." Tears slipped down my cheeks as I listened to Rick. I didn't feel panicky, just sad. But when Daryl reached over and swiped away my tear I gave him a sad smile and he pulled me into his side.

We stayed like that until Rick was done talking. We were all about to go our separate ways when Hershel spoke up. "Rick, I think it's time you all moved into the house." With that we all started packing.

"It's gonna be tight, 15 people in one house." I heard Rick say when I dropped my bags and tent into the back of a blue pickup to be brought to the house.

"Don't worry about that. With the swamp hardening and the creek drying up..." Hershel answered.

"With fifty head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell." Maggie added.

"She's right." Hershel said with a nod. "We should've moved you in a while ago."

From there Rick started barking our instructions and the rest of my day was spent working, moving things inside, boarding up windows, helping Hershel stock the basement with food and water.

* * *

I was standing with Daryl beside the blue truck when T-Dog walked up "You only got so many arrows." He told Daryl as he handed him a gun.

"Is that Dale's gun?" Daryl asked as he took it and T hummed out a positive answer. "Wish I knew where the hell mine is." he grumbled as he tucked the gun into the back of his jeans.

"Ready?" Rick asked as he walked up and Daryl hummed.

"I'll get the package." T-Dog announced and walked off.

I walked over to stand in Daryl's open door. "Come back in one piece, okay?" I asked quietly, ignoring Rick for now.

"Always." Daryl told me with a nod then leaned over and pecked me quickly on the lips.

I was about to say something to Rick when T-Dog ran up and announced that Randall wasn't in the shed. All three of us ran off to see what he was talking about. Andrea saw us and alerted the others before she took off after us. Soon the whole group was outside. I just watched and listened as everyone debated on how he got out.

Shane randomly came out of the woods, "Rick, Rick!" he yelled as he stalked over to us. Lori yelled and asked him what happened. "He's armed! He's got my gun." Carol asked him if he was okay. We could all see the blood running down his nose, lips, chin and neck. "I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me and clocked me in the face."

"Alright, Hershel, T-Dog, get everybody back in the house. Glenn, Daryl, come with us." Rick ordered.

"T, I'm gonna need that gun." Shane said as he walked over.

"Just let him go." Carol pleaded. "That was the plan, wasn't it, to just let him go?"

"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here, not on our front step with a gun." Rick answered as Shane took T's pistol.

"Don't go out there. Y'all know what can happen." Carol pleaded as Shane, Rick, Glenn and Daryl took off in the direction Shane came from.

"Get everybody back in the house. Lock all the doors and stay put!" Rick called out still walking away.

I didn't want to go to the house, but T put his hand on the small of my back and urged me to follow the others, so I did. While stuck inside we all busied ourselves with random work. Maggie and Hershel made his bed on the couch in the living room while others made themselves palettes to sleep on for the night. I was one of the others, making Daryl and me a palette in the corner of the dining room.

After we ran out of busy work we all sat around the living room waiting for the men to get back. "I'm going after them." Andrea said as she stood from the couch where she had been sitting with Beth.

"That's not a good idea. They could be anywhere and you could get cornered by Randall." I spoke up earning a glare from her.

Before she could say anything Daryl and Glenn walked in. "Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked looking around.

"No." Lori answered before I could.

"We heard a shot." Daryl said with a look over at me before he turned back to Lori.

"Maybe they found Randall." Lori added.

"We found him." Daryl said and I sighed in relief.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.

"He's a walker." Daryl answered.

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked.

"No, weird thing is he wasn't bit." Glenn answered making my brows draw together in thought.

"His neck was broke." Daryl added.

"So he fought back." Patricia assumed.

"The thing is Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together." Daryl explained.

"Would you please get back out there and find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?" Lori pleaded walking over to stand across from Daryl.

"You got it." he told her with a nod then looked at me. "I'll be back." I wasn't going to let him go without saying something to him so I followed him out on the porch. That's when we saw the massive herd of walkers headed for the house. The others followed and saw as well. "Patricia, kill the lights." Hershel instructed.

"I'll get the guns." Andrea said and the two women took off.

"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Glenn asked pacing a little.

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about. A herd that size would rip the house down." Daryl answered.

I was about to ask what we should do when Lori came out of the house, "Carl's gone. He…he was upstairs. I can't find him anymore." She said in a rush.

"Maybe he's hiding." Glenn suggested.

"He's supposed to be upstairs. I'm not leaving without my boy." Lori pleaded.

Carol reassured her that they look again and they ran off into the house to look. I stayed behind on the porch. Maggie brought out the bag of guns and started passing them out. "They got the numbers, it's no use." Daryl said taking the gun she handed him and I took the one she handed me.

"You can go if you want." Hershel stated, loading his gun.

"You gonna take 'em all on?" Daryl asked.

"We have guns, we have cars." He said then cocked his gun.

"Kill as many as we can, and we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off of the farm." Andrea spoke up.

"Are you serious?" "Seriously?" Daryl and I asked at the same time.

"This is my farm. I'll die here." Hershel answered.

"Alright, it's as good a night as any." Daryl said as he hopped over the railing and off of the porch.

"Son of a bitch." I cursed as I hopped off of the porch and ran after Daryl.

"No, stay here, guard the others." Daryl asked more than demanded and I nodded and ran back up on the porch and watched him drive off. As walkers started getting close to the house I moved to stand with Hershel on the front lawn taking them down. "Hershel, Joanna, it's time to go!" Lori yelled at us but we kept shooting. "Hershel! Joanna!"Lori yelled again and I finally gave up and ran in the direction everyone else was running.

I had almost caught up with them when I saw a walker grab Patricia and latch onto her neck. I took down the walker then Patricia. Beth was screaming the whole time. Lori and I managed to get her off of Patricia and away from the gaining walkers just as Andrea and T-Dog pulled up in the blue pickup. Andrea got out and Lori asked her and me to get Carol who was cornered by two walkers. Andrea shot one and I shot another. "Look out!" Carol screamed and when Andrea and I turned we both had walkers right behind us. Andrea shot hers causing it to fall on her, I wasn't as fast of a shot and didn't shoot mine until it had already tackled it me to the ground. When I shoved the walker off of me and got up Andrea and I both saw that the blue tuck was driving away. Leaving the two of us behind. "Son of a bitch." I cursed with a look at Andrea.

"Make a run for it." she panted and took off running so I took off after her, knowing it was our only chance. When we saw Hershel, Rick and Carl drive off we ran after them screaming, but they couldn't hear and we got cut off by walkers, so we headed for the woods. We ran as long and as far as we could, until sun up then most of the rest of the day. Adrenaline got us pretty far, but at night fall we both collapsed. Walkers attacked us and we were both struggling to hold them off when all of a sudden the walker's heads were chopped off. We looked up to see a woman wearing a hood, towing two armless, jawless walkers on chains behind her. Not caring whether she was going to help me or hurt me I sighed and let my head fall onto the bed of leaves and grass.


	13. Chapter 13: Three Against The World

**The Revelation of the Other Woman**

 **Chapter 13:** Three against the world.

We peaked into the window of a pharmacy, seeing that there were three walkers inside. I looked at Michonne and jerked my head to one side and she jerked hers the other way and nodded. So I opened the door setting off the bell above it and we went opposite directions. One came my way and two went hers. I circled around to the biter that followed me and slammed my hatchet into the back of it's head. With mine taken down I headed Michonne's direction to see her slice two walkers head off in one swipe. "So dramatic." I sighed with a smirk as she slung the blood off of her blade.

"My drama's saved your ass on several occasions." She fired back in her usual monotone voice.

"No argument there." I agreed and moved from the shelf I had been leaning on to look for something that could help kill a cold. But all we could find was a few packets of Tylenol. "Guess this will have to work for now." I grumbled and tossed Michonne the packets that she caught in one hand and tucked into the bag thrown over her ebony shoulder.

"Let's get back to her." Michonne said with a nod at the door so we headed out back to the Sportsman's Deer Cooler, a meat market on the edge of town where we had left a very ill Andrea. When we got inside, Andrea wasn't where we left her and the first thing that crossed my mind was that she had died while we were out and was now roaming the place. So we headed through the only open door in the room, readying our weapons as we did. But we found her laying down on the floor wrapped in a blanket. "What are you doin' out here?"

"I needed some light." Andrea groaned and I kneeled down beside her. Over the past months, we had grown to tolerate each other. That didn't mean we got along by any means, but with Michonne as a mediator, things usually got worked out eventually.

Michonne helped Andrea sit up then started tearing open the packets of Tylenol. "Take this." Michonne told Andrea as she popped the pills into the sick woman's mouth then helped her take a sip of water.

"How is it out there?" Andrea asked as Michonne pressed the cool bottle of water to Andrea's flushed face.

"No different than usual." I answered as I moved around to sit against the wall beside Andrea.

"You're a bad liar." Andrea grumbled and I smirked at her because it was true.

"We should go in a few days." Michonne suggested.

"They're coming." Andrea groaned back at the worried look in Michonne's eyes. "You two should go."

"No." Michonne and I argued back.

"I'll hold you back. Go. I can take care of myself. I save your asses all winter, didn't I?" Andrea said giving Michonne a cheeky smile then started coughing. Michonne tried to give Andrea some water, but she smacked it away. "I won't have you dying for me." she moved around and wrapped the blanket around her torso. "Good soldier won't leave your post…Screw both you."

I scoffed at her and left the room. I heard Michonne whisper, "We'll go in a few days." Before I was completely out of earshot. A few minutes later Michonne came into the main room and unchained her pets. "We're movin' on. Best pack your stuff."

I sighed, but didn't argue. When she and Andrea had agreed on something, my opinion didn't much matter. So after our stuff was packed, not that we had much, we moved on. Constantly moving around, traveling with two overpowering women…it could be…taxing. It made me miss the farm and Daryl. Putting up with Andrea on a daily basis even made me miss all of the Rick and Lori drama.

* * *

We had been traveling for two days, walking along a random road, when we saw a helicopter fly over. "Huh, last time I saw one of those I was told it was a hallucination." I thought out loud with a look aver at Andrea who rolled her tired eyes. Michonne and I didn't give the helicopter a second thought and kept walking the road, but when we looked back we saw that Andrea wasn't following. As we followed her eyes to the sky a loud explosion sounded from the aircraft and black smoke started boiling out of the top. "They're going down." I gasped right before the craft spun out of control and crashed into the woods across the large field we were facing. Without a single bit of discussion we headed to the downed helicopter.

We had gotten to the crash when Andrea fell and puked up her brunch. "Don't push yourself." Michonne scolded then helped her move to sit behind a bush. Michonne chained her pets to a tree then gave Andrea a gun to protect herself while the two of us went to check out the crash. The first person we can across was a soldier who had been chopped in half by the blades of the helicopter. We were looking inside for survivors when we heard trucks approaching across the way. "Come on." Michonne told me with a nudge and we ran back over to Andrea.

"People are coming." I informed Andrea as I ran around her and crouched down.

"Any survivors?" she asked.

"Two dead, not sure about the other." Michonne answered, grabbing onto the handle of her katana while I gripped my hatchet. A few seconds' later two trucks pulled up and men started getting out.

"Fan out." A guy commanded and the others obeyed. "Save those rounds until you need 'em." The same man barked. My heart pounded in my chest as we watched the men asses the area. One guy used a bow to take down a walker. Then when Andrea started coughing I feared the men would find us, but she quieted down and we watched as another man took down two walkers with a baseball bat. "We've got a breather!" the man who seemed to be the leader yelled then called for one of his men, Tim. The two were pulling the man from the helicopter when we heard a walker approaching from behind us.

Michonne moved to take it down, but Andrea stopped her and it walked right by us. The men saw it and the guy with the bow took it down. "He's saving them. We should show ourselves." Andrea said and Michonne and I looked at each other, both shaking our heads.

"Not yet." Michonne told her quietly.

We watched them men for a bit longer, making Michonne's pets pull at their chains and make a lot of noise. As we watched, the leader stabbed the guy that had been chopped in half then did the same to the dead guy in the helicopter. I was going to ask why he did that, but Michonne's walkers started causing a ruckus getting the attention of the men surveying the crash. "They're making too much noise. They're gonna give us away." I whispered, earning a glare from her. It didn't help when Andrea coughed. The combination of the two really caught the men's attention and Michonne quickly stood and chopped off the walkers heads.

The men stood around for a few seconds, looking in our direction before the leader finally said, "Let's roll out."

We all breathed a sigh of relief and my heart rate dropped a bit, but when we heard a stick snap behind us Michonne and I grabbed our weapons and started to spin around, but we were cut off. "Nuh, uh, uh. Easy does it, girls." That voice, that gruff slightly high pitched voice sounded familiar. "Mine's a whole lot bigger than yours. Now, put down your weapons." I sighed and opened my hand letting the hatchet fall to the ground with a thud. "That's it. Nice and easy, girl." I looked over at Michonne to see her slowly set her katana on the ground. "And let me see your hands." The three of us lifted our hands above our heads. "Now spin around, that's it. Nice little twirl around." As I turned around the face of none other than Merle Dixon came into view. "Oh holy shit." He drawled looking at Andrea. "Blondie." His eyes then turned to me. "And ain't you that bitch that shot at me?" he asked with a smirk.

"Just your feet." I answered with a smart ass smirk even thought I knew I should keep my mouth shut, but let's admit it, I'm not very good at that.

"Damn, ya'll are looking good." I rolled my eyes at him. A walker came up behind him and he stabbed it with a knife that was tapped to a metal contraption on his stub hand. I guess he cut if off to get off the roof. "Now, how's about a big hug for your old pal Merle?" he asked holding his arms out to the side. Andrea passed out and the next thing I knew I was being lifted up, blindfolded and my hands tied behind my back.

I could tell that I was in a vehicle, but I couldn't see for the blindfold on my eyes and I couldn't move. But I could hear the leader talking to someone on the other end of a radio. "Have Stevens prep the infirmary."

"How many?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Four." The leader answered. "One with multiple fractures and severe burns, another in and out of consciousness, probably shock and dehydration."

"And the others?" the voice asked.

"They're fine." Leader answered.

"Any females?" the voice asked.

"Three. Found them hiding in the woods." The leader answered. "I'm bringing a homework assignment so open the lab."

"Do tell." The voice said.

"Be at the gates in five minutes. Get off the radio." The Leader told him.

"Well, what is it?" the voice asked.

"Now, Milton." The leader said aggravated at the guy on the radio.

When the vehicle came to a stop we were un-blindfolded and taken to what looked like a makeshift clinic where a doctor took our blood and gave us water. Michonne sat on the end of the examination bed while the nurse tended to Andrea and I sat on a small stool. "Why are we being held here? We want to leave." Andrea said using her bitchy tone and for once I couldn't blame her.

"You're not well enough." The nurse scolded. "and it's dark. You should stay the night.

"Where are we?" Andrea asked.

The nurse looked around like she was scared to talk. "That's not for me to say. He'll talk to you."

"Who?" Michonne asked and before I could say anything Merle walked into the room.

"Go check on your patient, Doc." He told her so she left and Merle walked further into the room. "Bet you was wondering if I was real." He said as he walked over to the desk and grabbed him a chair. "Probably hoping I wasn't." he added as he turned the chair around backwards and sat down. "Well, here I am." He gave us a smile like we should be impressed. Michonne stood up, but I stayed seated. "I guess this old world gets a little smaller toward the end, huh? Ain't so many of us left to share the air, right?"

As much as I hated the first impression and second that Merle had made on me, I was interested to know how he made it off of the roof alive. "You know, when they found me I was near bled out. Starving. Thinking to myself a bullet might make a good last meal. Take myself a nice long nap after. Wait for Daryl on the other side." My eyes watered when he mentioned Daryl. "You seen my brother?" he asked with a look at Andrea then at me. He noticed the tears in my eyes and I looked away.

"Not for a long time." Andrea answered vaguely.

"Makes two of us." He said with a flat faced nod.

"He went back for you, you know? Him and Rick and Glenn, but you were already gone." I spoke up hoping it would help.

"Yeah well…" Merle laughed as he slid off the metal contraption to reveal a nasty looking stump. "Not all of me." I cringed and covered my mouth with my hand. "Yeah…Rick. He's that prick that cuffed me to the rooftop." He grunted as he put the contraption back on.

"Yeah…" Andrea answered. "He tried. Daryl saw that." she tried to smooth things over.

"He's always been the sweet one my baby brother." Merle said with a nod and I smiled because he was right. "What you smilin' about?" he asked me and I felt my eyes grow big.

"She was sleeping with him." Andrea answered for me.

"Andrea!" I hissed at her then looked at Merle with a slack jaw.

"You's hookin' up with my baby brother?" he asked, giving me a glare.

"No, uh…that's… that's beside the point." I stumbled around, not knowing how Merle was going to react to Daryl being with me. "The point is, Daryl wanted to keep looking for you but we got over run and had to move on." I said bringing things back to topic.

"A lot of people died…Jim, Dale, Jacqui, Sophia…" Andrea started listing off the people that had passed and then started tearing up, "Amy."

"Your sister?" Merle asked and Andrea nodded. "She was a good kid, I'm sorry to hear it.

"There were more, a lot more. We had to leave Atlanta." Andrea started, but I took over.

"From there we found a farm with some other survivors. We stayed there a while but it got over run too." I finished.

"Daryl stepped up, became a valued member of the group." Andrea added, knowing I couldn't talk about Daryl without crying.

"Now he's dead." Merle assumed.

"I don't know that for sure. We didn't see him go down." She corrected.

"How long ago?" Merle asked.

"Seven, eight months." Andrea answered as I stared down at the floor. "Joanna and I were separated from the rest of them. Got left behind." Merle just nodded. "I know what it feels like."

"I doubt that." Merle said holding up his stump.

"What do you want from us?" Andrea asked and I pulled my eyes from the floor, wondering the same thing.

"Damn." Merle sighed as he got up out of the chair. "There she sits, four walls around her, roof over her head, medicine in her veins, and she wants to know what I want from her." Merle said to Michonne and me. "I plucked you, your mute and your sharp shooter here out of the dirt, Blondie. Saved your asses. How about a thank you?"

"You had a gun on us." Michonne spoke for the first time.

"Ooh, she speaks." Merle popped off. "Who ain't had a gun on 'em in the past year, huh?" he laughed out the question. "Show of hands, huh? Anybody? Hmm?" he asked walking around the room with his stump raised. "Shumpert, Crowley? Y'all had a gun on y'all?" The men just ignored his question. "Hell, I think I'd piss my pants if some stranger come walking up with his mitts in his pockets. That's be the son of a bitch you'd really want to be scared of."

"Thank you." Andrea said, interrupting him. Michonne just glared, open mouthed at Merle then Andrea. A second later the leader guy walked in a whispered something to Merle then turned to us.

"How you feeling?" he asked in his deep voice.

"We want our weapons." Michonne said stepping up to the front of the room.

The leader just nodded. "Sure. On your way out the front gates."

"Show us the way." Andrea spoke up and I just looked at her then back at the frowning leader. "You've kept us locked up in this room.

The guy just looked around him. "You see any bars on the windows? You're being cared for."

"Under guard." Andrea argued with a hand on her hip. This attitude was the reason me and her never got along.

"To protect our people. We don't know you." The guy argued calmly.

"We know enough about you to want out of this place. We watched you drive a knife into the skulls of two dead men." Andrea argued back. "What the hell was that all about?"

"They turned." The guy answered.

"They weren't bitten." Michonne argued stiffly.

The leader looked at Merle and the look they shared told me we were missing something. The leader sighed and looked back at us. "It dosen't matter. However we die, we all turn. I put them out of their misery." The guy walked around Michonne and Andrea to stand closer to me where I still sat on the stool. "It's not easy news to swallow at first, but there it is. You're not prisoners here, you're guests." He looked at me for a second then turned back to Andrea and Michonne. "If you want to leave, as I said, you're free to do so. But we don't open the gates past dusk. Draws too much attention." he turned his eyes from Michonne to me then to Andrea. "And you especially, you need a solid night's sleep. You wouldn't last another day out there in your condition." He looked from her to Michonne then back to Andrea. "I'll have you brought over to my place in the morning." He turned and started walking out still talking. "Return your weapons. Extra ammo, food for the road, some meds, keys to a vehicle if you want one." He stopped at the door to look back at us. Andrea looked at Michonne and me with a look of shock. Michonne just glared over at Andrea and I turned my eyes back to the leader. "Send you on your way, no hard feelings." With that he walked away and we followed. He led us to the front doors and opened them for us. "Welcome to Woodbury." As I looked out the doors I saw what looked like a normal, clean town illuminated by torches. "Come with me."

So we followed him, Andrea leading the way and Michonne behind her. I hung back, walking slightly ahead of Merle who was following behind us. As we walked we stopped at a wall where men stood guard. Merle ran up the stairs and relived one of the man. Andrea chatted up the leader while Michonne and I took everything in. but my attention was drawn to Merle when he Whistled. "Got us a creeper, Governor." So he was their governor? The leader or Governor gave Merle a nod and Merle took down that walkers with an assault rifle, one armed.

"Governor, they call you that?" I heard Andrea ask.

"Some nicknames stick whether you want them to or not." He answered.

"Buzz in a nickname, Governors a title." She corrected as she walked over to the fence and peeked out.

As I looked at Michonne I could tell she didn't trust this place. I on the other hand was wondering if we found our new home. From there we were led to a room for the three of us to share. As soon as the Governor was gone Michonne shut the door.

* * *

While the streets at night were like a ghost town, when morning rolled around everything came alive. We were woken by a brunette woman wearing a dress and boots, holding a clipboard who introduced herself as Rowan and said the Governor wanted us to join him at his place for breakfast. "It's real." Andrea thought aloud.

"You three were out there for a long time. While you were, the Governor was doing this." Rowan replied as we walked the sidewalk. I trailed behind Michonne, taking it all in.

"There seems to be a lot of people." I said more to myself than them, but they still heard.

"How many do you have here?" Andrea asked.

"73. Eileen's about to pop, so her kid will make 74." Rowan answered. "It's still a work in progress, but Rome wasn't built in a day."

"That's a bold comparison." Andrea scoffed.

"I think we've earned it." Rowan replied and I just listened to their conversation, keeping my two cents to myself. "Wall's haven't been breached in well over a month. We haven't suffered a casualty on the inside since early winter."

"How's that possible?" Andrea asked.

"Our Governor set a strict curfew." Rowan answered as I took in three women working around a planter full of green, growing plants. "Nobody out after dark. Noise and light are kept to the bare minimum. Armed guards on the fence and patrolling the perimeter to keep the biters away."

"I saw what your patrols do on the way in last night." Andrea said in her bitchy tone. "They had a dead one strung up like an ornament."

Rowan stopped and held her clipboard down in front of her as she talked to Andrea. "I won't make excuses, but those men put their lives at risk every day to protect this town. They've lost more than a few friends out there. everybody copes in their own way." Rowan finished her speech and walked around Andrea. "But I'll raise it with the Governor."

Andrea and Michonne shared a look before Andrea started following Rowan and Michonne looked at me. "I have a clip board, I'm important." I mocked Rowan in a high pitched voice and Michonne just glared at me and started following behind Andrea. "I thought I was funny." I said to myself with a shrug then trailed behind the three women.

By the time Rowan was done giving us the low down on the town and delivered us to the governor he was halfway through cooking breakfast and another guy who the Governor introduced as Milton had tea ready for us. We were seated now sitting at the round dining table in his kitchen. "Eight months?" The governor asked as he walked over with a skillet of eggs. "Hard to believe you ladies lasted so long out there." he scrapped some eggs onto Andrea's plate.

"Because we're women?" she asked.

I scoffed at her. "Not every man is a sexist pig you know?" she glared at me.

The governor smirked at me then looked back at Andrea. "Because you were alone." He scraped some eggs onto my plate.

"We had each other." Andrea replied as he gave Michonne some eggs.

"Three against the world, it's long odds." The governor answered as he served Milton.

"We managed." Andrea replied.

"Oh, we're impressed." he scraped some eggs onto his own plate.

"Very." Milton added.

"Survival in the wild is tough sledding." The Governor said as he moved to the kitchen and sat the skillet down. I noticed Michonne staring at something on the shelf across from her and followed her gaze to her katana, Andrea's gun and my black handled hatchet that were on display as if to taunt us. "Wake up every morning on the ground wondering if today is the day. Will it be quick and final or slow and, well, without end?" he said as he finally say down. "Will someone have the good sense to kill my brain, or will I come back as one of them?"

Now that he was seated I picked up my fork and started eating. "Do you think they remember anything?" Milton asked and we all just looked at him. "The person they once were?"

"I don't think about it." Andrea answered through a bite of food.

"I think so. Not a lot, but a very, _very_ , limited amount." I spoke up earning a look from Andrea. "What? Unlike you I think about it. I've seen a little girl walker stop to pick up a doll and a mother come back to the house she died in and try to open the door." everyone just looked at me for a second.

The Governor spoke up breaking the tension. "Milton believes there might be a trace of the person they were still trapped inside."

"Like an echo." Milton added as he filled his cup with tea. He had a soft way of speaking that I found relaxing. "Surly it must have crossed your mind." He spoke to Andrea.

"At one time, yeah. Right before it tried to bite me." she said with a small laugh.

"And then you killed it?" Milton asked as I took my last bite of eggs then started sipping the tea, which was really good. "I say "it" only because no one here likes to refer to them as him…or her…" he finished awkwardly with a clear of his throat then started talking to Michonne. "The two you had in chains, who were they?" Michonne froze and just looked down at the table. "The way you controlled them, used them to your benefit." Michonne refused to look at him. "You did know them, didn't you?" but when he asked this she looked at him with wide eyes.

Andrea and I didn't know what to say. "Let them eat." The Governor scolded.

"My apologies." Milton apologized then looked down at the table like a scolded kid.

Andrea started questioning the governor about the town and his secret to keeping it safe. It really was a fully functioning town with schools and jobs just well guarded. But something in my gut was telling me that it was too good to be true. Their conversation went on until the bowman from the day before knocked on the door and whispered something to the Governor. "Soffy to cut breakfast short, but this can't wait." He apologized.

"We want our weapons." Michonne demanded as she stood up from the table.

"Well, we can make these meals to go and your weapons will be waiting outside, but you should take time to relax." The governor responded. "Get your strength back. Have a look around. Who knows? You might like what you see."

After he left, Milton showed us out and we were left alone to explore. "I don't trust him." Michonne spoke up.

"I second that statement." I added from where I walked behind the two of them and Andrea looked back at me with an eye roll.

"Why not?" she asked as she turned to look straight ahead. "Have you ever trusted anybody?" she asked Michonne.

"Yeah." She answered stiffly.

"Then give this a day or two, that's all I'm asking." Andrea said as she started walking ahead of us. "Some time to get our shit together."

"My shit never stopped being together." Michonne spoke up stiffly with her hands on her hips and I decided to bow out of this conversation.

"Didn't look that way when Milton asked about your walkers." Andrea popped off. "I'm surprised he didn't get a fork in his eye."

"It was none of his damn business." Michonne argued shakily.

"I guess it's none ours either." Andrea said as she stopped and looked at me then Michonne.

"Hey, don't pull me into this. Her business is her business." I said holding me hands up as I backed off.

"Seven months together, all we've been through, I still feel like I hardly know you." Andrea said earning a glare from Michonne. "I'm sorry, it's the truth. You know everything about me and I-"

"You know enough." Michonne interrupted her.

Andrea looked at me then sighed and turned her gaze back to Michonne. "Those walkers were with us all winter long, protecting us, and you took them out without any hesitation. That had-"

"It was easier than you think." Michonne interrupted her shakily before she started walking away from us. I just shrugged at Andrea and followed Michonne.

* * *

Michonne and I were sitting at a patio table on the sidewalk when the Governor and his men pulled up, two new military vehicles in tow. When they pulled to a stop a crowd started gathering around them so I joined, leaving Michonne behind. The Governor stood in the back of one of the trucks and started making a speech. "We brought in four new people yesterday. One was a helicopter pilot with a national guard outfit. Even though he was clinging to life, he told us about his convoy on the highway, his men." He paused and looked down at the ground for a second as if her were sad before he continued. "I promised I'd bring them back here alive. But they didn't have our walls or our fences. Biters got there before we did." I squinted, listening carefully to his story. "Now the men had trucks, the trucks had weapons, food, medicine, things we need. Now we didn't know them, but we'll honor their sacrifice by not taking what we have here for granted. Won't be long before dark, so go on home. Be thankful for what you have. Watch out for each other." With that he hopped down off of the truck and the group dispersed.

Andrea walked beside him talking as I walked over to Michonne and sat back down. "Did that seem like a load of bull to you?" I asked and she looked over at me with her usual glare and nodded.

 **A/N:** I want to say thank you to everyone who has followed and favorite this story. I know it was supposed to be a Rick/Oc, but I guess I'm too much of a Daryl girl to do anything else. Lol. I also wanted to say thank you to those that have reviewed, reviews keep me going and keep me in the writing mood. Also, sorry if this chapter was a little boring, I couldn't find many ways to deviate from the tv storyline here, plus I kind of hate the whole woodbury thing. I'd much rather be writing about the goings on a the prison, but I didn't think that through before I separated Jo with Andrea. So, thanks so much for reading and I hope to update again soon.


	14. Chapter 14: From the Outside to Back In

**The Revelation of the Other Woman**

 **Chapter 14:** From the Outside to Back In.

Michonne and Andrea sat on the bed looking at a few maps, while I sat on the couch. We were getting ready to leave. "If we leave soon, we'll get a few hours on the road before dusk." Michonne said.

"Where are we heading?" Andrea asked and I couldn't help but wonder if it really mattered.

"I'm thinking the coast. We have the water completely on one side, maybe we find a boat. Best thing we can do is find an island." Michonne answered while I shoved clothes that Woodbury had given me into a bag.

"And if the coast isn't safe?" Andrea asked.

"We do what we always do, keep on the move." I answered.

"Let's say the coast is safe. Then what do we do? Just grow old, live off of the sea by ourselves?" Andrea asked.

"I'd rather take my chances out there than stay here." Michonne answered.

"Me too." I chimed in.

"Because your guts tell you there's something off about this place…about the Governor?" Andrea asked.

"It's kept us alive this long." Michonne answered giving Andrea a look.

"That's true." Andrea said with a nod and let the subject drop. A few minutes after that Andrea grabbed a map and left without a word.

* * *

"I thought we had an agreement." Michonne said when Andrea announced that she didn't want to leave today.

"We can always leave tomorrow or the following day." Andrea argued.

"The following day?" Michonne asked, pointing out Andrea's wording that sounded suspiciously like something the Governor would say.

"We don't want to walk into trouble that we can't get out of." Andrea said and once again it didn't sound like her words.

"Tell me about it." Michonne scoffed back.

"Michonne, it is just a day or two." Andrea argued.

"I heard you the first time." Michonne said before she walked out of the door.

When she was gone Andrea looked at me. "Don't look at me like that. I'm with her." I grumbled as I turned sideways on the couch, getting comfortable.

"And why is that?" she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me.

"Because there is something off about this place. It's too perfect… Too much of a contradiction to the real world. And the Governor…?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest uncomfortably. "He says we can leave anytime we want, but every time we ask to he pushes us to stay." I argued.

"Because he really wants us to stay, we'll be safer here than we will out there. They have food and water." She argued back and I stood up off of the couch and crossed my arms over my chest.

"And how do you think they get that stuff, huh?" I practically yelled at her.

"The Governor." Andrea answered and the look in her eyes was different.

"The Governor?" I asked glaring at her. "You have a thing for him don't you? Is that where you went earlier, to kiss up to him?"

"You're out of line." Andrea warned, pissing me off that she worded it like that. Like she was above me.

"No I'm right. You've always been an authority whore. First Shane and now the Governor." I scoffed as I headed for the door. "Stay here, screw the Governor, I don't care anymore. It's not like you and I were ever actually friends anyway." I slammed the door behind me.

* * *

The next day was apparently some kind of special day. People walked the streets in brighter clothes than usual and a table was set up handing out ice cold drinks. It was noon when the Governor stood in front of the town hall and started giving a speech. So out of curiosity's sake I walked over to stand at the back of the crowd away from Andrea and Milton. "First time we gathered, there was nine of us hold up in an apartment with spam and saltine crackers. Well look at us now." he laughed, and people smiled with him. "We've built a place we can call home. It may be held together with duct tape and string, but it works. It's ours. I'll take it. So today we celebrate how far we've come. We remember those we've lost. We raise a glass…to us." He finished and everyone cheered with him.

I rolled my eyes and looked back at Michonne to find that she was no longer there. Where the heck did she sneak off to now? I didn't know what was going on when Merle approached me and said that the governor wanted to see me. But I followed him to a building to see Michonne sitting at a table with her back to the door. Merle pulled the chair next to hers out for me and I sat down. "Governor will be here in a minute." He told us gruffly then moved to the back of the room to watch us.

"Where did you disappear too?" I asked leaning to my right to whisper to her.

"They had biters in cages. I took them out." She whispered back.

Then the Governor walked in, Michonne's katana and my hatchet in hand. "You get off on that?" he asked Michonne. "Poking around other people's things?" he asked as he sat our weapons down then sat down across from us. "Hmm?" Michonne didn't answer. "We've got nothing to hide here."

"People with nothing to hide don't usually feel the need to say so." Michonne countered.

"That's fair." The governor said with a nod. "We all have our secrets, huh?"

"Like Penny?" Michonne asked and I looked at her confused then back at the Governor, who looked like a kid who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"You know about Penny?" he asked and Michonne just stayed quiet. "Then you know I loved her."

"Bet you say that about all the girls." Michonne countered.

"You've got the wrong idea about me. I'm just a guy trying to do right by the people I care about. "Now you two want to leave, Andrea wants to stay. You want me to take choice out of the equation. You want me to kick you out." He said with a smile while drumming his fingers on the table. "Actually I was about to give you your weapons back. 'cause you two fit in. we've enjoyed having you." he told us before he reached over and picked up my hatchet and sat it on the table then grabbed Michonne's katana and stood up to walk around us. "This is a real problem for me. people follow the rules. And whether or not it's true, they believe it's what keeps them alive. You've turned that upside down. You've broken the rules." He said to more to Michonne than to me. I guessed that I was only here because she had taken my weapon too and he assumed I was in on it. "If I don't do anything, I invite anarchy. How about this?" he asked, standing right next to Michonne. "I keep a lid on your little outburst, you two join the research team. Y'all obviously have skills and aren't afraid of biters. Merle will take care of you and then-"

He was cut off when Michonne stood from the table and twisted the katana out of his hands. I grabbed my hatchet while she held her blade to his throat. When she started backing out of the room so did I, but I didn't turn my back on him until after she had her blade in the sheath and the door open.

When we got back to our room not long after Andrea came in and from there a fight between the three of us broke out. Me and Michonne vs Andrea. We finally talked Andrea into leaving with us. We were on our way to the main gate when Merle spotted us. "Hey girls where y'all off to in such a hurry? Huh?" he yelled while chewing food. Andrea stopped walking, but Michonne placed her hand on her shoulder and pushed her along with us. Merle ran over to us. "Hey come on, now. Come on. Hey, hey, hey. Y'all are breakin' my heart runnin' away like that." he said waving his arms around.

"We're leaving." Michonne announced.

"It's almost curfew. I'd have to arrange an escort." Merle said still chewing his food. "I mean the party's still going on." Andrea looked at Michonne and Me and we just stared at Merle. "Alright. Wait here a second." He told us then headed over to the gate. Merle walked over to the high wall and called to the guy who we had seen take down walkers with a baseball bat.

Andrea walked over to Merle and tried to talk to him but he told her to step back. She walked back over to us aggravated. "See, there's always a reason why we can't leave yet." Michonne said and two seconds later Merle opened the gate for us.

"If I was y'all I'd find some shelter before night fall." He advised.

Michonne shook her head. "They knew we were coming. This was all for show."

"Do you hear yourself? How can you know that?" Andrea asked. "and why would they bother?" Merle called for us to leave and Andrea turned to look at him. "Close the gates."

"No!" Michonne and I said at the same time.

"I practically begged the Governor to let you stay." Andrea argued and I shook my head at her.

"I didn't ask for that." Michonne argued.

"You didn't have to. That's what friends do for each other." Andrea argued.

I decided to let them argue alone and headed over to the gate to stand next to Merle. "Michonne wants to go to the coast." I told Merle.

"Sounds like a good plan." He said with a nod that reminded me of Daryl.

"I haven't told her yet that I'm not going. I'm gonna go looking for Daryl like I should have done from the second I got separated from him." I told him and he just looked at me. "If the governor will let you you're welcome to come with." I offered.

He bit his lip and shook his head. "I'm need here."

"Okay." I told him. "If I find him I'll let him know you're here." I told him before Michonne walked over and we left, without Andrea.

"They're gonna come for us." She warned when we got a good distance away.

"Daryl's a damn good tracker, so if his brother taught him then we're in trouble." I told her and he looked at me and nodded. When we came across a walker we killed them then Michonne started chopping them up. "What are you doing?" I asked wondering why we weren't just moving on.

"You said Merle's a tracker, let's leave him a message." She used the arms to make a g, the legs to make an o then turned the torso so that the back was facing up.

"Go back." I said aloud. "Nice."

"Now we hide and wait and we take them out." So we did as she said when they caught up to use we saw that it was Merle and three other men. It took them a minute to figure out the message then when the time was right. We jumped out at them. Michonne took two guys while I took out the third, leaving just Merle. When he pulled a gun we ran. He got Michonne in the leg before we were out of range and he started chasing after us. We circled back around and got the jump on him.

We were fighting him when a small herd found us and we were no longer fighting just Merle. I focused on taking out walkers. Then when I looked to Michonne I saw her laying on the ground coated in walker guts. I ignored Merle and ran over to slam my hatchet into the head of the walker standing over Michonne. I helped her up and we made a run for it again.

We had stopped for a rest when four walkers started our way and Michonne reached for her sword. But she didn't need it because we smelled so much like walker blood that they went right by us. "It's all the blood. We're camouflaged." I told her quietly. "Come on, let's keep moving." I threw her arm around my shoulders. Eventually we made it to a town that looked pretty clear of walkers. Too clear. We were hiding behind a car when we saw a red and white suv pull up. A guy and a girl got out and I thought they looked familiar. When they kissed I realized who they were. "Glenn and Maggie?" I asked myself.

"You know them?" Michonne whispered.

"Yeah, they were a part of my old group." I answered. "I want to go talk to them." I said and started to get up, but Michonne pulled me back down and shook her head. "They are my friends. You can stay here if you want, but I'm going to them." I took my arm from her grasp and stood up. As soon as they saw me they pulled their guns on me. "Whoa, guys, it's just me, Joanna. Remember?" I asked, holding my hands out to the side as I walked around the car cautiously.

"Joanna?" Glenn asked with a tilted head, not putting down his gun.

"I see you guys made it off of the farm." I observed putting my hands down, but not walking any closer. "Who…" I started, thinking of Daryl and Rick and Lori and Carl. "Did anyone else make it?"

"Yeah." Maggie answered dropping her gun and Glenn did the same.

"Rick, Lori, Carl, Hershel, Beth, Carol, Daryl and T-Dog." Glenn listed off the people that made it.

"So Jimmy and Shane didn't make it." I thought out loud and they looked down confirming what I had said. "So, where are the others?" I asked looking around, but seeing no more vehicles.

"We found a prison, been staying there for a few days now." Glenn answered and Maggie glared at him like he shouldn't have said anything.

"Will you guys take me back with you? I really miss the old gang." I asked and Glenn nodded.

"But only if you help us scavenge this place." Maggie spoke up and moved to the doors that they had parked in front of.

Glenn cut the lock on the door, but when he opened them a huge flock of birds flooded out startling all of us. "Okay, let's do this." I heaved out a breath and took a step into the store while Maggie stayed outside to take watch.

"Glenn, get that duck." Maggie stated and Glenn and I both looked at her like she was crazy. Glenn asked her what she was talking about. "Get that duck."

Glenn laughed at her. "Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yeah. A kid growing up in a prison could use some toys." Maggie replied catching me off guard.

"Did you guys pick up a kid along the way?" I asked with a laugh, but their faces fell. "What am I missing?"

"Lori…she uh, she had the baby." Glenn answered and I smiled, but they didn't. "She didn't make it."

"Oh…" my face fell. "I'm so sorry."

"We're looking for formula and other baby stuff." Glenn answered getting back to the mission at hand. After searching the store as best we could we came out with four baskets of stuff. "We just hit the powdered formula jackpot." Glenn said as he headed outside to Maggie.

"Oh, thank god." Maggie sighed.

"There's also batteries, cocktail wieners, beans and some mustards." I informed her holding up one of the baskets in my hand as I put it in the vehicle. I was anxious to get back to this prison they talked about. Just knowing Daryl was alive had me chomping at the bit to see him again.

"It's a straight shot back to the prison from here." Glenn said as he handed a basket to Maggie and she put in the car. "Probably make it in time for dinner."

"I like the quiet. Back there, back home, you can always here them outside the fence no matter where you are." Maggie said with a sigh.

"And where is it ya'll good people are calling home?" I heard Merle's voice ask then Glenn and Maggie pulled their guns. I dropped the basket of formula I was about to put in the car then held my hatchet at the ready.

"Merle?" Glenn asked.

"Merle laughed and put down his weapon. "Wow." He said as he started walking closer with his hands up in the air.

"Hey, back the hell up!" Maggie yelled.

"Okay, okay, honey." Merle said. "Jesus."

"You made it." Glenn said not dropping his gun.

"Unfortunately." I sighed drawing Merle's eyes to me.

"Oh, I see Sharp Shooter here found you too." Merle said and I rolled my eyes at him. "Where's your friend?" he asked and Maggie and Glenn glanced at me.

"Not here." I said though gritted teeth in an attempt to hide that fact that I was lying.

"Hey, can you two tell me, is my brother alive?" Merle asked turning back to Glenn and Maggie. "Huh?"

"Yeah." Glenn answered and Merle smiled.

"Hey you take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?" Glenn didn't answer, but instead glanced at the knife on Merle's stump hand, prompting some bragging about how he made it himself.

"We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you." Glenn said not dropping his gun.

"Hold on. Just hold up." Merle said walking closer to us.

"Whoa, whoa." Glenn warned motioning for him to stop.

"Hold up here, hold up. Hey the fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me." Merle said and I thought about popping off but managed to keep my mouth shut.

"You trust us. You stay here." Glenn warned.

Merle laughed then pulled is gun and shot at me, hitting the back window instead. I ducked around the car and out of the way of the bullet. Things happened so fast that next thing I knew Merle was holding Maggie at gun point and forced us into the car and forced Glenn to go to Woodbury.

* * *

I was in some kind of large shed, sitting at a table with my hands tied together behind my back. I could barely hear Merle talking to Glenn. "I wanna know where my brother is." Glenn's grunts of pain hit my ears and I flinched. "I wanna know where the sheriff is." Merle said then after the sound of a smack Merle's grunts of pain entered my room. Then came wet smacks that I knew meant that Merle was beating the crap out of poor Glenn. Even worse I knew Maggie could hear it too and was having to deal with hearing the man she loved get the crap beat out of him.

It seemed like the beating went on for forever before it stopped and got quiet. But then I heard the gurgled of a walker while Merle asked again to know where Daryl was. When Glenn didn't answer I heard his struggles as he fought off the walker and when things got quiet again I feared that Glenn was dead.

A long while later I jumped at the sound up a door opening and looked up expecting it to be my door, but it wasn't. I could hear The Governor talking to Maggie in the room next to mine. He too was trying to learn where their camp was. But then I heard him tell her to stand up and take off her shirt. "Take off your shirt or I'll bring Glenn's hand in here." A few seconds later I heard him say "Go on."

"Leave her alone!" I yelled, hearing the sound of a belt buckle being undone, but I got ignored. "Hey! You sick, twisted bastard, you want to get some kind of sick pleasure take it out on me!" I yelled and the door to my room was jerked open and Merle came striding in.

"Keep it down sharp shooter." He growled as he walked around me and forced a dirty rope into my mouth then started to tie it behind my head. "Don't see what my brother saw in a mouthy thing like you."

"Hmm Hmm." I mumbled around the rope.

He growled as he pulled it out. "What?"

"I said… fuck you." I sighed through the pain of the itchy rope stabbing me in the corners of my mouth.

"That could be arranged." He mumbled as he hooked the rope back into my mouth, tied it. "After all. The Governor doesn't need you. You don't know where their camp is. The Asian and the Farmers daughter are the only ones who know you're here. No one would miss you if you just…disappeared." He said holding his blade at my neck. I tried to keep my face emotionless, but a tear slipped from each of my eyes. He just laughed as he pressed it closer into my neck, on the verge of drawing blood. My hands shook as I leaned back as far as I could, trying to get away from the sharp blade. "Yeah, baby brothers got good taste." He bit his lip as he looked me up and down. "Too bad he'll never see you again."

A cry escaped my lips as he pressed the blade in deeper breaking the skin. Satisfied with my pain he withdrew the blade and laughed as he walked out. After that I was left alone for what felt like hours. Just sitting there, wondering what The Governor and his men were planning to do with us.

When the door opened I expected to see Merle or the Governor, instead Bowman walked in with a bag in his hand. He put it over my head then untied me from the chair and grabbed me by the arms. I had just stood up when gunfire hit my ears and the guy took off running tugging me blindly along with him. Soon I was being shoved to my knees and the gunfire stopped.

A minute or so later I felt someone kneel down next to me and heard Maggie crying. "Glad we could catch up." Merle said as I heard him walk around me.

"Just keep looking at me." I heard Glenn say to Maggie.

Tears were already streaming down my face, but when I heard Maggie's shaky "I love you." they fell faster.

"On your feet, move." A guy I'd never heard before demanded as I was jerked up and pushed forward. "Let's go, come on."

We had walked a few feet before I heard a loud bang and the smell of smoke made its way through the bag on my head. Gunshots popped off randomly as someone hooked their arms gently around my waist and started pulling me somewhere. I was in no position to resist and couldn't see even if I could get away.

The bag was still on my head as I was led outside then down the street. The bag wasn't taken off of my head until I was inside. The first person I laid eyes on was Rick and I instantly threw my arms around his neck. "Sorry Joe, no time for hugs." Rick grumbled as he took my arms off of him then moved around me revealing Daryl.

"Oh my god." I sighed as he opened his arms and I threw myself into them. He wrapped his arms around my waist, picked me up and spun me around. When he finally sat me down I looked into his blue eyes and touched his cheek, wondering if I had passed out in that chair and was dreaming. "I never thought I'd see you again." I sighed and it all became very real when he pressed his lips to mine. Even in my best dreams his kisses hadn't felt that good and real.

"Break it up you two. We gotta get out of here." Rick scolded.

"Where's that woman?" I heard Maggie asked.

"She was right behind us." Rick said as he moved to the window to look out.

"What woman?" I asked looking around.

"Michonne." Rick answered.

"She said she knew you." Daryl added.

I nodded my head. "I was with her and Andrea all winter."

"We don't have time for this." Rick growled. "She's on her own."

"Daryl, this was Merle."Glenn said as Maggie wrapped him in a jacket. "It was. He did this."

"You saw him?" Rick asked.

"Face to face." Glenn answered. "He threw a walker at me. He was going to execute us."

"So my brother's this Governor?" Daryl asked leaving my side to look at Glenn.

"No." I answered and he looked back at me. "The Governors a completely different level of asshole."

"Your brother's his lieutenant or something." Maggie added.

"Does he know I'm still with you?" Daryl asked.

"He does now. Rick, I'm sorry. We told him where the prison was. We couldn't hold out." Glenn said where he now leaned against a cabinet.

"Don't. No need to apologize." Rick told Glenn and patted him on the leg before he moved to look out a window.

"They're gonna be looking for us." Maggie said.

Rick looked at her and nodded. "We have to get back. Can you walk?" he asked Glenn. "We've got a car a few miles out. Glenn told him he could before Maggie and Rick helped him stand up.

"Hey if Merle's around, I need to see him." Daryl pleaded.

"Not now. We're in hostile territory." Rick argued.

"He's my brother. I ain't-"

Rick interrupted him. "Look at what he did!" Rick whisper yelled. "Look we gotta get out of here now."

"Maybe I can talk to him. Maybe I can work something out." Daryl tried and I started to speak up but Rick beat me to it.

"No, no, no. you're not thinking straight." Rick looked back at where I stood next to Maggie and Glenn. "Look, no matter what they say, they're hurt. Glenn can barely walk. How are we gonna make it out if we get overrun by walkers and this governor catches up to us? I need you." Daryl just looked at him for a second. "Are you with me?"

"Yeah." Daryl nodded after another second. Now that that was settled Daryl walked back over to me now noticing the gash on my neck. "You alright?" he asked putting his hand on my neck and I just nodded.

"Let's go." Rick said and Daryl grabbed a flash bang out of the duffle he had and we lined up at the door. "On thee, one, two three." Rick counted then jerked the door open and Daryl threw out the smoke bombs. After it got good and smoky we headed out into the street. People quickly took notice and started firing.

Daryl, Rick and a guy I had never seen before, but was clearly one of Ricks group, covered us as we ran down the street. Eventually we took shelter in the archway of the main enterance t oa store. Daryl handed me a gun as he dug through the bag and handed it to me. "You guys go ahead I'mma lay down some cover fire." Daryl said as he handed Glenn a gun.

"No, we gotta stay together." Maggie insisted.

"She's right, I just got you back I don't want to lose you again." I added and Daryl just looked at me over his shoulder.

"You ain't gonna lose me and it's too hairy. I'll be right behind you." Daryl argued and I looked to Rick for help but didn't receive any. "You ready?" he asked as he threw out another smoke bomb.

I followed the other to a bus parked next to the wall not knowing what else to do. The new guy pulled Glenn and Maggie up. He was helping me when out of nowhere he got shot, pulling me with his as he fell off the bus to the ground. "Daryl! Rick!" I screamed as I pushed the guy off of me and started climbing the bus. Maggie grasped my hand and halled me up and soon Rick was right behind.

When we made it over the wall we got to cover behind a nearby train. "Where's Daryl?" I asked looked around to see that he wasn't with us yet. When we heard a rustling behind use we turned to see Michonne.

Rick pulled his gun on her. "Where the hell were you?" he asked and I didn't stop him because I was wondering the same thing myself. "Put your hands up." she did as told. "Turn around." He demanded and I took in the blood on her face as she turned around. Rick took her sword and she turned back around to lean against the train car. He dropped the gun now that she was unarmed. "You get what you came for?" he asked.

"Where are the rest of your people?" she asked instead of answering him.

"They got Oscar." Glenn answered finally revealing the new guys name to me.

"Daryl isn't back yet, did you see him on your way out?" I asked and she shook her head.

"If anything happens to him I-" Rick started and Michonne looked at him.

"I brought you here to save them." Michonne stated out of breath.

"Thanks for the help." Rick told her dismissively.

"You'll need help to get them back to the prison or go back in there for Daryl. Either way, you need me." Michonne reasoned.

"There's no debate about it. We're going back in there." I said stepping up to Rick and Michonne. Rick nodded and we started working out a plan.


	15. Chapter 15: Getting out, getting broken

**The Revelation Of The Other Woman**

 **Chapter 15:** Getting out, getting broken.

"They're in an arena, Merle and Daryl. The Governors making them fight each other." Michonne said as she came back from checking things out inside.

"Okay, you two are staying here with Glenn." Rick barked at Michonne and me.

"I have to go in for him." I argued just to get a look from Rick that while I hated I actually missed.

"No, you have to stay here and keep an eye on your friend, make sure she doesn't do anything else stupid." He argued then turned to Maggie. "We'll go in and get him." He turned back to me and Michonne, "you three go back to the car and wait for us there."

"Sir, yes sir." I grumbled under my breath and helped Glenn stand up. After we watched Rick and Maggie go back in we followed Michonne back to the car. It was almost sun up by the time we got there.

Glenn and I sat on the ground while Michonne leaned against the familiar green car that used to belong to Shane. It wasn't until the sun was completely up that I heard Rick call out to Glenn. But when we got near we all noticed that Merle was trailing behind them. "Now we've got a problem here. I need you to back up." Rick started.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Glenn and I asked at the same time. Glenn pulled his gun and Michonne pulled her katana, both were stopped by Rick.

From there, arguing erupted. Everyone yelled at each other, but I just stood back and watched the commotion. "Get that thing out of my face!" Daryl yelled at Glenn as he swung his arm at him the way Daryl usually did when he was angry.

"Man, you've gone native brother." Merle laughed at Daryl.

"No more than you hanging out with that psycho back there!" Daryl yelled at Merle.

"Oh, yeah, man. He is a charmer I got to tell you that." Merle said while leaning against a tree looking cocky. "Been putting the wood to your girlfriend Andrea. Big time baby." he informed everyone before looking at Michonne and moaning as he licked his lips. The action made my stomach roll and I turned my eyes to Daryl to see him glaring at his brother. From here only more fighting was to be had and eventually Rick knocked Merle out.

After that the group, excluding Michonne because the others didn't trust her, started debating on what should be done with Merle. "Look The Governor's probably on his way to the prison right now. Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle." Daryl argued his brothers case.

"I'm not having him at the prison." Maggie spoke up.

"He had a gun to our heads." Glenn said at he same time. "Do you want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth?"

"He ain't a rapist." Daryl argued.

"No." I spoke up and his eyes turned to me for the first time since he had gotten back from Woodbury. "But he is a murder." Daryl swallowed hard. "You want to know what your _brother_ said to me as he held a knife to my throat?" I asked stepping closer to Daryl who eyed the cut on my neck. "My brother's got good taste. Too bad he'll never see you again." Daryl just turned his eyes to the ground. "And Merle might not be a rapist, but his good buddy The Governor? He is."

"They ain't palls no more. Not after last night." Daryl still argued with me.

"How can you defend him after everything he's done!" I yelled with a motion at his passed out brother. This wasn't how I wanted our reunion to go. I didn't want to argue with him, but he was making it difficult to be on his side.

"There's no way Merle's gonna live there without putting every one at each others throats." Rick interrupted before Daryl and I could really tie into it.

"So you're gonna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?" Daryl asked Rick.

"She's not coming home with us." Rick answered.

"She's not in a state to be on her own." Maggie argued.

"She did bring you guys to us." Glenn sided with Maggie.

"And then ditched us." Rick argued.

"Look, she had her reasons." I stepped in again getting Rick's attention. "She may be a little...intense and sperattic, but she's not a murder. She's not a threat to anyone."

"She's too unpredictable." Rick argued.

"Would you just give her a chance?" I asked and Rick just looked from me to the rest of the small group with a sigh.

"We don't know who she is." Daryl said not looking at me. "But Merle, Merle's blood."

"No, Merle is _your_ blood. My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison." Glenn said to Daryl.

"And you're part of that family." Rick said to Daryl then looked over at me. "So are you, but she's not." he looked back at Daryl. "And neither is he."

"Man, y'all don't know." Daryl scoffed. "Fine, we'll fend for ourselves."

"That's not what I was saying." Glenn said to Daryl trying to get him to change his mind.

"No him, no me." Daryl stated simply.

"Daryl you don't have to do that." Maggie stepped up.

"It was always Merle and I before this." Daryl argued.

"You serious?" Glenn asked. "You're just gonna leave like that?"

"You'd do the same thing." Daryl said.

"What do you want us to tell Carol?" Glenn asked peaking my curiosity. Had something happened with them while Daryl and I were separated?

"She'll understand." Daryl replied with a nod then looked around at everyone but me. "Say goodbye to your pops for me." he told Maggie as he walked by her.

Everyone walked after him trying to convince him not to leave the group for his brother. But I didn't, not until he started gathering his things out of the back of the green suv. "Hey!" I practically growled at him as I walked over to the back of the car and Rick left so we could talk "Are you seriously doing this?" I asked and he just looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "We just found eachother and now you're leaving me?" I asked and got no response from him. "Stop ignoring me." I insisted as I moved to stand between him and the car so he couldn't grab anything else.

"I ain't ditchin' my brother for some hoity-toidy, panic prone, piece of pussy." He answered, glaring down at me with a angry flat face. I felt my face flush and my eyes started to water. I didn't even remember drawing my hand back until I had already slapped him full force across his cheek.

"You son of a bitch." I whispered through gritted teeth before he grabbed an arrow out of the trunk then took off walking. I couldn't believe that after finally finding me he would treat me like that and walk away...just like that. The pain in my chest literally felt like my heart was breaking as I watched him walk over to his brother who threw his arm around Daryl shoulders.

I could feel the tightness in my chest and my throat closing up and I fought it, but I couldn't fight it for long and soon I collapsed onto my butt. Everyone could see and hear my wheezing as I fought to breath, but I didn't care. For once I didn't care that everyone was seeing me in the middle of full blown panic attack mode. Michonne probably didn't even know what was going on, because while we were out on road I had somehow managed to hide them from her and Andrea. I didn't want to be the weak link of the three of us.

I was aware of Glenn and Maggie putting their things in the still open trunk that I was sitting in front of then their doors as they got into the car and closed them. "We patch you up and then you're gone." Rick said to Michonne who I heard get into the car then the crunching of Rick's boots on the gravel as he walked around and kneel down in front of me. He gently picked my hand up and put it on his chest. "Breath with me." So I did as told and focused on making my breathing match his until I was sure that I'd be able to get up without getting dizzy. "Better?" Rick asked after he helped me stand. At first I nodded my head, but then realized that it was a lie and shook my head no. He sighed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a one armed hug that I didn't return. "Come on. We gotta go." he told me with a nod at the car that I numbly got into.

Except for one stop along the way when Maggie, Glenn and Rick got out to move a truck out of the way, the ride to the prison was uneventful and quiet. It wasn't until we pulled up to the gate of the prison that Michonne spoke. "I thought you said he loved you." she said to me quietly but the people in the car still heard. Rick glanced at me in the rear view mirror.

"He never told me out loud, but I thought he did. Guess I was wrong." I sighed then turned my eyes to my hands that were folded in my lap.

After we pulled through the first prison gate Rick stopped the car and got out to greet Carol. Maggie moved to the driver seat and drove closer to the prison. When she parked, Michonne and Glenn when inside, but I chose to take a seat on the metal benches and attempt to catch my breath before seeing everyone again. But when Maggie was greeted by Beth and Hershel I stood up and headed their way.

As I neared them so did Carol, Rick and Carl and my feet were pulled to a stop when Beth ran over and hugged Rick then pecked him on the cheek. She then turned my way and smiled her usual timid smile. "I'm glad you're back." she told me before she and Maggie headed inside.

I gave Rick a questioning look, but he seemed just as confused as I was by Beth's reaction. Then Hershel snagged my attention. "Joanna, I'm happy you're in one piece. I know it's not easy making it out there on your own."

"I wasn't on my own, really. I had Michonne and Andrea, but how are you? What happened to your leg?" I asked nervously.

"I got bit. Rick, cut it off, save my life." Hershel answered with a look at Rick. "I hear Carol did a lot too, stopped me from bleeding out, but I was out for that part."

"I wish I could have been here to help." I sighed as I took a few steps closer to the older man. "I'm really glad y'all made it." I gave Hershel a quick hug, being careful not to knock him over, but it was unnecessary, he was steady as a rock on those crutches.

"Go on inside." Rick said with a wave of his hand. So I followed Carol and Carl inside. On our way in we passed a small group of people I'd never seen before.

"Who are they?" I asked no one in particular as Carl walked over to one of the empty tables and hopped up to sit on top of it. Placing his silenced gun in his lap.

"New people." Carol answered flatly. "They showed up while Rick and the other were gone. We decided not to associate with them until Rick got back." she explained as she led me to a room filled with cells. "Your friends in there. Last I checked she was passed out. Pick any empty cell and make yourself at home I guess." during her whole speech her tone was flat, uncaring and almost down right mean. She started to walk off, but I stopped her.

"Carol?" I asked and as she turned to look at me I caught the tail end of a eye roll. "Have I done something to make you mad at me?" I asked.

"Yeah." she answered with raised brows and I shook my head slightly in confusion. "You showed up and Daryl left." she walked away.

I wanted to ask her what that was supposed to mean, but honestly, I didn't care. I just wanted to find a place to lay my head for a while and deal with the rest later. So that's what I did. I headed up the stairs and to the end of the catwalk to the last cell and plopped down on the thin mattress. It wasn't long before my eyes slipped shut and I fell into a dream.

 _The old house smell of water stains and the tale tale musk of dust and moisture. Yet another temporary place to call home for a night or two. However long the walkers stayed at bay would be how long we would stay here. Hunker down until it was time to run again. This is what life was now, running until you couldn't run anymore. So I walked further in, being cautious of the previous or possibly current owners of this once beautiful house. Michonne and Andrea went to my left and right, to clear those areas while I headed straight into the kitchen. Seeing that there were no immediate threats, I opened the cabinet doors hoping to find food, any food, you couldn't afford to be picky now. "What the hell you think you're doin'?" I heard someone to my right ask and I turned with a can of beans in my hands to see Daryl. When it struck me who I was looking at and that he was really there I threw myself in his arms. But he growled and pushed me back._

I sat straight up in bed, nearly hitting my head on the bunk above me, breathing hard with tears running down my face as my head pounded. Damn him. I had been having the same dream since he and I got separated. It was usually a happy one in which he welcomed me with open arms and kissed me passionately, but now? Now that he had turned his back on me the dream turned too.

As my breathing returned to normal and the pounding in my head stopped I heard Rick yelling in the room where the new people were being held. "Get out! Get out!" I heard him yelling and by the time I got to the room the new people were leaving and everyone was looking at Rick like they were scared of him.

So I decided that I should just back off and find out what had happened later. I managed to get an hour or so more of sleep before I was woken up by a baby's cries. I had yet to meet the little one, so I headed out of my cell to see Beth on the perch. The baby hushed as soon as a bottle was stuck in her mouth. "Hi." I greeted the young woman as I walked closer to them.

"Hi." she greeted back only looking up from the baby for a second.

"So, uh, what...what happened with Rick earlier? What was he yelling about?" I asked not really knowing how to talk to the girl. We didn't really talk much if at all back on the prison.

"Rick's been a little...unhinged since Lori died." she replied simply. "Would you mind?" he asked offering me the baby.

"Uh, sure." I uneasily took Judith from her.

"She's not gonna break." she said as I stuck the bottle back her Judith's mouth before she could start crying again. "Make sure you hold the bottle up so that she doesn't drink air." I did as she said and looked down at the little girl getting my first good look at Rick's daughter. She had Loris eyes. "So back at the farm..." she started and I looked up from the baby who was slowly drifting off to sleep, "You and Rick were together?" I froze, her question was a bit out of the blue, but I wasn't going to lie to her, so I nodded. "But he was married. How could you do that?"

"It's complicated." it sounded like a crap reply, but I was all that I had.

"What's complicated about a ring on a mans finger?" she asked and I just sighed.

"How old are you?" I asked feeling defensive.

"Seventeen." she answered as I looked down at the sleeping baby and took the bottle out of her mouth.

"Seventeen." I sighed as I laid the baby down in the Styrofoam cooler decorated with stars and the words little ass kicker. "What does a seventeen year old know about love? And who are you to judge me anyway?"

"I'm a woman with morals, unlike you." she replied causing me to grit my teeth. "If you would have just left Rick alone Lori might still be alive, Judith might still have a mother."

"You don't think I knew what I did was wrong? I feel bad about that every second of every day, but I was not the cause of their relationship going sideways, I am not the only one who made mistakes and I let him go. I moved on I fell in love and you know what? That man that I fell in love with? Who I have been _dreaming_ of finding ever since the farm... He ripped my heart out today and tossed it in the dirt like it was nothing." I ranted at her quietly to keep from waking Judith.

"You deserve it." she said looking up at me with angry tears in her eyes.

"I know." I whispered through gritted teeth before I walked around her and out the door on the perch that led to a bridge between buildings. I pressed my back against the chain link and slide down letting tears warm my cheeks. On top of all of this governor crap, Daryl choosing to leave his friends and Rick going crazy, I now had to deal with two women that hated me. One who blamed me for Daryl leaving and another that blamed me for Loris death.

* * *

The next morning we all stood around, looking at a map of the prison that Glenn had drawn on the floor in chalk. "You said you found Tyreese's group right here?" Glenn asked Carl, referring to the group of strangers that Rick pushed out of the prison. Carl nodded. "We secured this." They continued to talk about what parts of the prison had been cleared and what hadn't. "The whole front of the prison is unsecure. If walkers just strolled in, then it's gonna be a cake walk for a group of armed men."

"Why are we even so sure he's going to attack?" Beth asked and I scoffed. "Maybe you scared him off."

"He almost murdered Glenn, almost raped Maggie and pitted Daryl in a fight against his brother. On top of that we killed his people trying to get out of there. What part of any of that says that this guy wont come looking for revenge?" I asked Beth as I rolled my eyes.

"He had fish tanks full of heads." Michonne added a new piece of information from where she stood next to me, leaning against the wall. "Walkers and humans. Trophies. He's coming."

"We should hit him now." Glenn said and Beth questioned him. "He wont be expecting it. We'll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head."

"We're not assassins." Carol argued but Glenn, who seemed to have put himself in charge since Rick was nowhere to be seen, ignored her and headed over to Michonne.

"You know where his apartment is. You and I can end this tonight." Glenn tried but Michonne sighed and looked at me and I shook my head no. "I'll do it myself." after a second of thought Michonne glared and nodded to him. Glenn nodded and walked back to the map on the floor.

"He didn't know you were coming lat time and look at what happened." Hershel spoke up. "You were almost killed. Daryl was captured. And you, Maggie and Joanna were almost executed."

"You can't stop me." Glenn said as he marched over to Hershel. This Glenn wasn't the one I knew. This Glenn was on a power trip and reckless.

"Rick would never allow this." Hershel argued.

"You really think he's in any position to make that choice?" Glenn asked harshly.

"Think this through clearly. T-dog lost his life here. Lori too. The men that were here... it isn't worth any more killing. What are we waiting for? If he's really on his way, we should be out of here by now."

"And go where?" Glenn asked.

"We live on the road all winter." Hershel argued back.

"Back when you had two legs and we didn't have baby crying for walkers every for hours." Glenn argued.

"We can't stay here." Hershel replied.

"We can't run." Glenn protested before Maggie shook her head and left. Things weren't right between those two since they got back from Woodbury. Glenn looked around at all of us then said, "All right. We'll stay put. We're gonna defend this place. We're making a stand." he then looked away from us and kneel back down at the map. "Carl, you and I will go down to the tombs. We need to figure out where that breech is." Carl agreed.

"You'll need some help." Michonne stepped up.

"No in case anything happens, I need you two out here." he said before he looked around at the people in the room then asked, "Who's on watch?" like he was mad that we all gathered for his stupid meeting. "Damn it." he scoffed as he walked off and I looked at Hershel to see him shake his head.

After Glenn and Carl got back from the tombs another debate was struck up on what to do since the tombs were full of walkers again. It was decided that Glenn and someone else would go around the outside of the prison to figure out how to solve the problem.

I got fed up with how Glenn was acting and excused myself to my cell. A few minutes later, Michonne knocked on the wall getting my attention. "You alright?" she asked and I just shook my head yes. "You're lying?" she phrased it as a question, but it was an observation. I nodded my head yes. "Is it Daryl?" she asked and I shrugged.

"It's Daryl leaving, Rick going crazy, Glenn acting like the big man on campus trying to fill Rick's shoes, the pending Governor attack, Beth blaming me for Lori's death, Carol blaming me for Daryl leaving...it's everything." I sighed, sounding as tired as I felt.

"Lets get some fresh air." Michonne suggested as she kicked my boot and jerked her head to outside. So I nodded and headed out with her. As soon as we stepped outside I saw and heard a bullet zip through the air to hit Axel, a prisoner that had survived in the prison who I hadn't had the chance to get to know, in the head.

I screamed and ducked down behind a metal table that had been leaned against the fence and pulled my gun while Michonne ran off to do her own thing. I tried several times to get the sniper that had taken post on one of the guard towers, but he was too far away. They all were and I wasn't brave enough to try to get closer.

Soon all shooting came to a stop and a truck could be heard in the distance. We could only watch as it tore down the gates and parked in the middle of the prison yard. This is when I noticed the yellow truck parked outside the fences and the governor standing beside it. A ramp was dropped from the back truck in the yard and walkers fled the truck filling the yard. The driver got out and I started firing at them, but I wasn't a good enough shot to kill something that moved that fast. So when I saw something white out in the yard and realized it was Hershel I focused on taking down every walker that threatened him.

The governor fired off a few pointless rounds before he and his men got back in the truck and drove off. Now the only threat was walkers and I knew how to deal with them. So I finally left my post to get better shots. I did my best to keep Hershel and everyone that I could safe until Glenn drove over to Hershel and helped him inside the truck.

Eventually most everyone got inside the only intact gate left and closed it, sealing out the walkers. But as I looked around I noticed that I hadn't seen Rick anywhere. "Has anyone seen Rick?" I asked looking around the group of people and Hershel pointed to the outermost fence. It took no time for me to recognize the two figures that stood with him. "Is that...?" I asked not finishing the sentence.

"Daryl and Merle." Glenn finished with a growl.


	16. Chapter 16: Settling In

**The Revelation of The Other Woman**

 **Chapter 16:** Settling in.

After Rick, Daryl and Merle got safely inside the gates we all gathered in the cell block. Daryl Carol and Beth stood on the perch and catwalk above while Michonne, Glenn, Rick, Maggie, Carl and I stood on the ground below. Hershel sat on the stairs. Merle was locked in the holding room. "We're not leaving." Rick spoke with finality.

"We can't stay here." Hershel argued the same case he had been arguing.

"What if there's another sniper?" Maggie asked. "A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds."

"We can't even go outside." Beth spoke up as if what she said wasn't already understood by everyone.

"Not in the daylight." Carol added.

"Rick says we're not running. We're not running." Glenn spoke up still playing the part of leader even thought Rick was back.

"No, better to live like rats." Merle spoke up through the bar door holding him back from the rest of us.

"You got a better idea?" Rick asked him.

"Yeah, we should have slid out of her last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we?" Merle asked. "I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."

"We ain't scared of that prick." Daryl spoke up from the catwalk, but I didn't even bother looking at him.

"Y'all should be. That truck through the fence thing, that was just him ringing the dinner bell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to." As much as I hated to admit it, Merle had a point.

"Let's put him in the other cell block." Maggie said ringing a rag I her hands.

"No. He's got a point." Daryl said.

"This is all you. You started this!" Maggie yelled at Merle who wasn't affected by it.

"What's the difference whose fault it is?" Beth spoke up loudly. "What do we do?"

"I said we should leave. Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Hershel said for the millionth time and Rick started to walk off. "Get back here!" he yelled at the ex-cop who stopped, but didn't turn to look at the old man. "You're slipping Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this is not a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."

After Hershel yelled at Rick he just stared at him for a second then walked off. With him gone, people scattered. Most went to their cell's so that's what I did as well. I wiped the dust off of the metal mirror and looked at myself for the first time in months. Dark circles shadowed my eyes, my skin was darker than it used to be from the amount of sun I'd gotten during the winter and my hair had grown two inches, now touching my shoulders. I didn't look like the me I remembered. I was still studying myself when I heard someone clear their throat and looked over to see Daryl standing with his arm propped up on the door frame.

A pain shot through my chest at the way he was looking at me. With hard eyes and straight lips that gave nothing away. He was different than I remembered, everyone was. I guess we'd all changed over the winter. "What ever you're selling I don't want any." I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"That your way of tellin' me to go away?" he asked quietly.

"If you're going to call me more names...yeah. That's exactly what I'm telling you." I said as I sat down on my bed, pulled my legs up and hugged my knees to my chest.

"I ain't good at sayin' sorry." he said quietly looking more like his old self.

"Good then don't say it. 'Cause I don't want to hear it." I practically growled at him still hugging my knees to my chest.

"Joanna, I really am-"

"No." I interrupted him letting go of my knees to scoot to the edge of the bed. "You don't get it. I dreamed about you. Every night that we weren't together was another dream that had you in it." his face flushed at my words and it was cute, but it didn't put a damper on my anger. "At first they were nightmares. I blamed you for me getting left behind and stuck with that bitch Andrea. But then I realized that you told me to stay behind because you wanted me to be safe and I stopped being mad at you. The nightmares turned to good dreams. I would be hunkered down in a house somewhere and you would find me or vice versa." my voice was shaking holding back tears. "We would find each other, you would wrap those amazing arms of yours around me and give me the best kiss of my life." a tear slid down my cheek as I watched him cross his arms over his chest and lean back against the wall.

"Then imagine my surprise when my wildest dream came true. You found me, hugged me and kissed me and..." I closed my eyes and smiled sadly at the memory of his arms around me and his lips on mine. "Damn it did that feel heavenly." I opened my eyes and let the smile fade as I glared at him again. "So stupid me, I think that means you actually missed me as much as I missed you, that you wanted me back. But then your brother comes in the picture and you no longer give a damn about me. I'm just some weak, uppity, booty call. And you leave." my eyes glared at his hand to his mouth, chewing on his cuticles. "That hurt." I glared at him with tears slipping down my cheeks. "I _never_ thought you would hurt me. So don't expect me to jump into your arms at the first "I'm sorry." because it ain't gonna happen."

He just stared at me for a second as if he were trying to think of something to say before he nodded and walked out. A few minutes later I heard people talking down stairs, practically under my cell so I walked out on the catwalk to see what was going on. "I didn't see any snipers out there, but we'll keep Maggie on watch." Rick said to everyone.

"I'll get up in the guard tower, take out half them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence." Daryl suggested.

"Or use some of the cars to put the bus in place." Michonne suggested.

"We can't access the field without burning through out bullets." Hershel added.

"So we're trapped in here. There's barely any food or ammo. Glenn added not helping one bit. Honestly his negativity wasn't helping much.

"We've been here before. We'll be all right." Daryl tried.

"That's when it was just us. Before there was a snake in the nest." Glenn directed at Daryl.

"Man, we gonna go through this again?" Daryl asked, getting in Glenn's face. ?Look, Merle's staying here. He's with us now. Get used to it." he looked up at me then at the rest of the group. "All y'all."

"Seriously, Rick, I don't think Merle-" Glenn started, but I interrupted him.

"Just stop it Glenn." I spoke up from the cat walk as Daryl came up the stairs. "No one likes him being here, but as much as I hate to admit it, we need him. He knows The Governors tactics and he has military training. So just get off your high horse and deal with it."

Glenn looked from me to Rick. "I can't kick him out." Rick said with a shake of his head.

Rick's words seemed to piss Glenn off even worse than mine did. "I wouldn't ask you to live with Shane after he tried to kill you." Glenn's words pulled a look out of Rick and I tilted my head at Glenn's words. Shane tried to kill Rick?

"He may be erratic, but don't underestimate his loyalty to his brother." Hershel defended.

"What if we solve two problems at once?" Glenn asked. "Deliver Merle to the Governor. Bargaining chip. Give him his traitor, maybe declare a truce."

"No." I said as I walked down the stairs to be a better part of the conversation. "We're sacrificing people now?" I asked with a twisted faced look at Glenn. "Delivering him to The Governor will be no different than leaving him on that roof to die. We couldn't do that back then and we can't do this now."

"Who put you in charge?" Glenn asked.

I leaned back and raised my brows. "I could ask you the same question mister high and mighty."

"Guys, cut it out." Hershel cut off our building argument. "Look, Glenn, Joanna's right. That's not who we are."

"We're not gonna figure this out now. Let's take a break." Rick suggested and Glenn and Hershel walked off. Rick jerked his head for me to follow him to his cell so I did. "What all happened out there over the winter? I know you said Michonne found you two while you were running from the farm, but I don't know much more than that." he asked as he sat down on his bed.

I sat down in the chair in the room with a sigh. "Not a whole lot up until Woodbury. I answered vaguely. Just a lot of running, scavenging and hunkering down for as long as we could. Michonne and I are pretty good friends, we don't communicate a lot, but we work well together. She and Andrea got close though." I said with a shrug.

"What about you and Andrea?" he asked looking curious.

"Oh we still hate each other as much as we always did, if not more now." I said with a small laugh before it faded. "Bitches can't befriend bitches I guess."

"You're not a bitch." he said with a shake of his head.

"Really? Because I feel like one after the things I just said to Daryl." I said looking up from the floor to his blue eyes. I had forgotten how blue they were and the fact that I was apparently a sucker for them. His and Daryl's... the same color yet so different. "But that doesn't matter. What about you and the rest of the group? There's some things I've been wondering since I got here."

"Like what?" he asked and I sat up straighter.

"Like I hear Shane tried to kill you?" I asked and he nodded with a sigh.

"The night the walkers came through, he killed Randall to lure me into the woods and kill me." he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I killed him first." he said before his dropped his hand and looked at me. I didn't know what to say so I didn't say anything. "He wanted Lori, thought killing me was the only way to get her and Carl."

"I'm sorry you had to do that." I said and he waved me off. "So... I have to ask based off the way Beth spoke to me, did you and Lori ever work things out?"

He shook his head no. "What did Beth say to you?"

"She blames me for Lori's death." he just tilted his head in confusion. "I guess she thinks that if I had never...been, with you that you and Lori would have been happier. I guess in her mind if you two were happier then you would have been there to save her or something."

Rick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Those aren't only her thoughts..." when he lifted his head to look at me I tilted my head to the side in a questioning manner. "She's just copying what I've heard Carl say."

"Wait, Carl's mad at me too?" I asked getting tired of being everyone's whipping post.

"Yeah." Rick sighed and dropped his hand from his face. "He didn't put two and two together until recently...after Lori..."

"I don't know how to handle this... Should we talk to him, try to explain things?" I asked as I shook my head in confusion.

"No, I'll talk to him and Beth. You don't deserve all that hate." he said as he stood up.

"No, I think it's totally justified." I sighed as I stood up as well. "I'm a home wrecker."

"You know that's not true right? Lori and I had our problems way before you even came along." he said taking a step closer to grab my hand.

"I know, but..." I said giving his hand a small squeeze. When I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye I looked out of the cell to see Daryl walk by and glance in our direction. His stopped when he saw Rick's hand in mine and shook his head. I could hear a scoff as he walked off.

I dropped Ricks hand and scratched the back of my head. "What else have you been wondering about since you got back?"

"Daryl and Carol." I said crossing my arms over my chest and I leaned back in the chair.

"What about them?" he asked sitting up straighter.

"She seemed really upset to hear that he didn't come back and then she blamed me for him leaving like I pushed him into it or something." I said and he just looked at me. "Are they...together?" I cautiously asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. It's hard to tell with him." Rick answered with a shoulder shrug. "You'll have to ask one of them." I sighed and placed my head in my hands. He stood up and placed his hand on my back. "Hey," I looked up at him and he gave me a small smile, "If I hadn't said it yet I'm glad you're alive."

I gave him a small smile in return and stood up to be engulfed in a hug. "I'm glad you're alive too." I said with a small laugh then pulled out of the hug. His hands lingered on my neck and mine on his sides. In a split second every tender intimate moment we'd ever had flooded my mind. Then came the bad memories and all the arguments and that made me remember why I chose Daryl, why I love Daryl more than anything or anyone. So I let him go and gave him a sad smile. "Thanks for filling me in. I'm gonna go to my cell and try to process things." he let me go without a word.

Daryl's cell was on the way to mine and Carol's voice made me stop just outside of it. "This is a tomb." I heard Daryl say as I made sure I couldn't be seen by them.

"That's what T-dog called it. I thought he was right till you found me." Carol said and it got quiet for a few seconds. "He's your brother, but he's not good for you. Don't let him bring you down. After all, look how far you've come." she said making him laugh. God how I'd missed that sound. It got quiet and I was about to go to my cell when Carol's words stopped me. "I've never thought Joanna was good for you either. She's too weak, those panic attacks of hers...they'll only slow you down and make you weak." I felt my teeth grind together as I bit down, forcing back more tears and made myself walk by as if I hadn't heard a thing.

About an hour later I heard some one approach my cell and I thought it would be Daryl or Rick, but instead, it was Merle. "What do you want?" I asked sitting up to pull my knees to my chest.

"Just thought that if we're gonna be under the same roof, we should clear the air." he stated and I just stared at him. "The whole hunting you two down thing... that was just business. Carrying out orders."

"Sure, whatever, just don't hurt my people." I said and he just smirked at me. "What?"

"Good taste." he answered making me immediately think of what he said back at Woodbury. How his brother had good taste. He just smirked again as he walked away.

I was still in my cell when I heard Rick yell for Daryl, Merle and some others to join him outside because Andrea had been spotted outside. So I ran out behind Michonne and watched as Rick let her in a treated her like the traitor she was. He pushed her to her knees and took her things before she confirmed that she was alone and she was eventually let into the prison, but just he holding room. Andrea greeted Carol first. "Hershel, oh my god." she sighed, spotting the old man's lack of a limb. "I can't believe this." she said as she looked around the room and let go of Carol. "Where's Shane?" he asked still looking around the room before she looked at Rick.

"Why should you care? You're sleeping with The Governor now right?" I asked earning a glare from her before she looked at Rick who simply shook his head and looked away from her.

"And Lori?" she asked and Rick just gave her a hard look.

"She had a girl. Lori didn't survive." Hershel spoke up.

"Neither did T-Dog." Maggie added and I made a mental note to find out exactly how he died.

"I'm so sorry." she said before her eyes landed on Carl. "Carl..." the boy just glared at her sympathy. Then she turned to Rick. "Rick I-" she started to walk over to Rick but he backed away from her. So she looked around the room at other people. "You all live here?"

"Here and the cell block." Glenn answered.

"There?" she asked pointing to the door to the cell block. "Well, can I go in?" she asked.

Rick stepped in her way. "I won't allow that."

"I'm not the enemy here, Rick." Andrea defended.

"No you're just sleeping with the enemy." I said and this time she didn't even look at me.

"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up." Rick said still standing in her way.

"He said you fired first." Andrea defended.

I wanted to point out that he was a liar, but I knew I wasn't the person to point that out. She wouldn't listen to me. She never did. "Well, he's lying." Rick answered and she just stared at him.

"He killed an inmate who survived in here." Hershel spoke up.

"We liked him. He was one of us." Daryl said making her attention turn to him.

"I didn't know anything about that." Andrea said with a head shake. "As soon as I found out I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out." she said looking around at everyone.

"That was days ago." Glenn said and now I agreed with his angry tone.

"I told you I came as soon as I could." Andrea defended herself and looked around at everyone just to be met with glares and looks of mistrust. She turned to me "What have you told them?" she asked angrily.

"I didn't have to tell them anything." I said from where I sat at the metal picnic table.

"You poisoned them with lies about me." she yelled.

"She hasn't bad mouthed ya." Daryl of all people defended me from where he sat at the table across the room from me.

"I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?" she asked getting mad at everyone.

"He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us." Glenn started.

"With his finger on the trigger." Andrea yelled with a point at Merle. "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?" she asked then sighed and placed her head in her hands for a second. "I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."

"There's noting to work out." Rick said cutting her off. "We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will."

"We can settle this." she said taking a step closer to Rick.

"God, Andrea!" I yelled at her. "When are you going to open those ignorant eyes of your and realize that there is no settling this. He will not stop until we are dead, that is just the kid of man he is. Merle kidnapped us, but it was under the orders of your boy toy. He is sick and twisted." I said walking over to get in her face.

"There is room at Woodbury for you." she said not giving up on the idea of peace.

"You're blind as a freaking bat." I scoffed and walked back to the table.

"There's room for all of you." she said looking around at everyone now.

Merle laughed at her. "You know better than that."

"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate?" Hershel asked. "Did he say that?"

"No." Andrea answered.

"Then why did you come here?" Rick asked.

"Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack." Andrea warned.

"I'll tell you what. Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye." Daryl warned back.

"We've taken too much shit for too long." Glenn spoke up. "He wants a war? He's got one."

Andrea turned to Rick. "Rick? If you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen. He has a whole town." she heaved out a breath as she turned toward us. "Look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."

"You want to make this right, get us inside." Rick said walking around her to be in her line of sight.

"No." Andrea said shaking her head rapidly.

"Then we got nothing to talk about." Rick walked around her.

"There are innocent people." she yelled after him trying to get him to stop.

With Rick gone Michonne and Andrea went outside to talk. So with her out of the way I went back to my cell.

I don't know when she left, I didn't go see her off like everyone else did. I didn't even leave my cell until I heard everyone getting together down stairs and the smell of warm food hit my nose. It turned out to just be rice, cooked with a chicken bullion cube for flavor. It wasn't much, but I sat on the floor next to Michonne to eat it. Not long after I finished my bowl Beth started singing. After listening to the song enough to recognize a pattern and pick up the chorus I started to sing along. "You gotta hold on, hole on. You gotta hold on. Take my hand I'm standin' right here. You gotta hold on." I sang back up catching a few people's attention, but I didn't look at them. Beth glared at me, but I ignored her too. She wasn't going to put a damper on my fun.

When the song was over most people turned in for the night. So I followed suit. As I passed Daryl's cell he spoke up, stopping me. "So it's you and Rick again, huh?"

I stopped and leaned my back against the frame of his door. "Maybe." I replied with a shoulder shrug.

"I ain't interested in none of your games." He practically growled as he sat up on the side of his bunk.

"Are you and Carol together?" I finally asked and he looked at me like I was crazy. "She was more broken up about you leaving the group than everyone else and people around here seem to put your names together a lot. On top of that you two were close at the farm, so what am I supposed to expect when I find you." I explained deciding to leave out the fact that I heard her badmouthing me and Daryl didn't defend me. He just stared at me, biting his nails. "Was I supposed to expect you to just wait around for me to show up out of the blue? I mean as much as I missed you and longed to be with you I supposed you wold move on at some point."

"Did you move on?" He answered flatly.

"Oh, yeah, didn't you hear? Andrea, Michonne and I got _real_ cozy on the road together." I popped off and he rolled his eyes at me with a scoff. "No, I didn't." I answered truthfully. "Have you?"

"Na. She's just a friend." he answered quietly.

"Good." I told him with a nod and pushed off of the door frame to walk away.

"You gonna give me a straight answer 'bout you and Rick?" he asked stopping me and I turned to see that he had stood up.

"He's just a friend." I answered with a sigh. "Now if you don't mind I'd like to get some sleep." I started once again to walk off but he grabbed my hand pulling me to a stop.

"Sleep here." he suggested, not dropping my hand.

"Why, so I can be your booty call?" I asked sarcastically.

He bit his lip and shook his head. "Cause I love ya, Woman."

"W-what?" I asked too shocked for his words to fully sink in.

"Come on, I ain't good at this shit, don't make me say it again." he practically begged.

What he had done and what he had called me...it was all washed away by those three little words. Three little words that when said separately or with other words between them meant nothing. But when one sentence was composed of just these words they seemed to heal the worst of wounds and mend broken hearts. So what did I do when they finally sank in?

Laughter burst from my lips and I fell back to lean against the door frame again. When I managed to stop laughing I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. "Even in my best dreams you never said that." I whispered then looked at him to see him looking at me like if I rejected him he would crack. "I love you too."

A smile spread across his lips as he closed the space between us grabbed the back of my head and pulled me into him. The kiss was hard and passionate. A moan escaped my lips when his tongue found mine starting a battle with no winner. His hand moved from the back of my head to grip my sides and lift me up and pin me to that wall. My legs wrapped around his waist and my fingers embedded themselves into his soft hair.

Thirty minutes later we lay on his bed sweaty and breathless, but still tangled together like a unkempt line of string. "How do you do that?" I asked, not looking at him, but comparing the size of our hands instead.

"Do what?" he asked quietly.

"Make me lose my mind but stay perfectly grounded at the same time." I said and he scoffed at me.

"Ya ain't makin' since." he grumbled sleepily.

"Yeah, I guess my minds still a little lost." I chuckled as I dropped his hand and rolled over to look at him. "It has to be, because I feel crazy for giving you a second chance." I explained, resting my hand on his taunt chest. "I felt something for you before, I wasn't sure what it was, if it was love or lust or if it was just simply trust, and companionship. So when you said what you said to me and chose to leave me, it hurt but I lived. Barely, but I did. And now, after tonight, after we said what we said? You have my heart, you're capable of destroying me."

"Ain't gonna do that." he promised, low and gruff as he placed his hand on my cheek and ran his thumb over my cheekbone. "Can't make the same mistake twice." from my face his hand slid down to my neck where he touched the mark his brother had left on me. "Let's get some sleep, missed havin' ya by my side."

I smiled to myself as I tuned my back to him and he tossed his arm over my side. "Goodnight, Daryl."

"Night, Ballerina."


	17. Chapter 17: Preparations Part 1

**The Revelation of the Other Woman**

 **Chapter 17:** Preparations Part 1.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the gruff voice of Merle invaded my ears pulling me from the best sleep I'd had in a very long time.

I groaned and pressed my face into Daryl's shoulder. "Go away, Merle." Daryl grumbled as he turned on his side and wrapped his arm over me, hiding my scantily clad upper half from the eyes of his brother.

"Na, baby brother, I had to see this for myself." he persisted.

Daryl growled and rolled out of bed. I pulled the cover up around myself. "Get out of here, Merle." he growled, glaring at his brother. "I'm warnin' ya."

"Darylina finally manned up." Merle said with a glance over at me. "Yeah, buddy. Didn't think ya had it in ya to shag a hot piece like her." I saw Daryl's fists clenched at his sides. "How bout ya let me take her for a ride though pound t-" his question was cut off by Daryl's fist making contact with his jaw. Merle grabbed his jaw and readjusted it then wiped blood off of his lip. "I'll take that as a no."

"That's a hell no." Daryl growled. "Ya even look at her the wrong way... Expect more than a sore jaw."

"That's how it's gonna be?" Merle asked as I rolled out of bed, wrapping myself in the sheet we'd used as a blanket the night before. Daryl just nodded. "Alright." Merle nodded and walked off.

"You didn't have to do that you know." I said as Daryl turned to look at me.

"Can't let him think that shit's okay." he replied as he grabbed the edge of the sheet and unwrapped it from my body, hung it over the barred door then shut it to give us privacy. He turned and pulled me to the bed and laid me down before he laid down beside me. Daryl settled into his back and tucked one arm under his head then wrapped the other around my shoulders. He looked so at peace that I couldn't help but turn onto my side and snuggle into him. He absentmindedly rubbed my shoulder with the backs of his fingers as I took in his shirtless torso. My eyes went to the scar slashed across his collar bone. Out of all of the scars on his body, and there were a lot, this was the one I wondered about most. It was different than the rest, thicker and more raised. The others looked the same and most likely had similar stories, but this scar had to have a different one.

"What ya thinkin' 'bout over there?" he asked breaking the silence making me jump and turn onto my back to look up at him.

"I wanna ask you a question." I admitted and he hummed letting me know he was listening. "You don't have to answer, but I was just wondering how you got this scar." I reached up ran my pointer finger along the raised purple line.

"Motorcycle wreck when I was younger." he answered gruffly. "Went too fast around a sharp turn on a gravel road and lost control. Broke my collar bone and my arm." as he answered, I let my hand play with the little bit of chest hair he had.

"That must've sucked." I said more to myself than him.

"Yep, got a metal plate and six screws holdin' my collar bone together." he added dismissively. "Ya got any metal in ya?" he asked as he started playing with my hair.

"Nope." I answered. "Up until the farm I'd never broken a bone."

"How's your wrist?" he asked as he picked up my hand and started playing with my fingers.

"Ship shape thanks to Hershel and that cast." I answered twisting my wrist around to demonstrate.

"Still feel bad about that. I should've talked to Hershel before taking a horse out." he said not looking at me, but at my hand as he threaded his fingers through mine.

"It was an accident, Daryl." I said rolling over onto my side to look him in the eyes. "You didn't know that particular horse was jumpy. Besides you got hurt worse than I did." I said with a shake of my head.

"Yeah but you still got hurt, because of me." he argued.

I sighed as I rolled over to straddle him. "It wasn't your fault." I argued back.

"You got hurt on my watch." I just stared down at my hands on his chest absentmindedly connecting the scars that looked like cigarette burns. "Never wanted to be like Rick."

"What?" I asked with a confused shake of my head.

"From the second the two of ya showed up at camp I watched him hurt ya, over and over. Never wanted to do that to ya. But that horse threw ya and then I said what I did back on the road." he paused and rubbed his thumbs over my hip bones. "I keep failin' ya."

I covered his mouth with my hand to stop him from talking then took it off. He was looking at me with a blank face that was meant to hide the pain in his blue eyes. "I'm not going to sugar coat anything. You have failed me, but only once." I said as I took my hand off of his mouth. "And that was when you said what you said after Woodburry, and I've forgiven you for that. There's just one thing I want to know and then we can leave it all in the past for good. Why did you say it?"

"Had to get ya to stay with the group. I knew you'd be safer here." he answered without looking at me.

"I didn't care about safer. I care about being with you." I argued.

"I came back to ya didn't I?" he asked looking at me with a quirked brow.

"Yeah, ya did, and ya better not pull that shit again, because you've used your only second chance." I warned and he just smirked. "I'm serious."

"I know ya are, Woman." he grumbled as he placed his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me down to kiss my forehead. "Wish there was some way I could make it up to ya."

"There is." I said with a smirk as a placed my hands on each side of his head and leaned down to kiss him gently on the lips. His hands gripped my hips and pulled me down into him, but I broke the kiss and sat up. "When this thing with the governor is over and we make this place home, you build me a ballet bar and find me a pair of point shoes." He just smirked and gave me a single nod. I gave him another quick kiss before I slipped off of him to lay at his side.

He turned toward me and threw his arm over my hips to grab by butt and pull me flush against him. "Deal," he said then kissed my neck, "But I get to watch ya dance after I build it for ya."

I smiled and brushed his hair out of his face then let my hand rest on the back of his neck. "Who would have thought that Daryl Dixon likes ballet?" I teased then giggled when he bit my neck.

"I only like it when you do it." he kissed my neck making my toes curl. "So damn sexy." his whispered words made chills run through my body and I wrapped my leg around his hips.

"Daryl, is Joanna in there? I need to talk to her." Rick's voice rang out from behind the curtain that had been hung over the cell door. Daryl ignored him and started nibbling on my ear. "I know she's in there, I can hear the giggles."

Daryl growled as he let go and leaned away from me. "Fine, yeah, she's in here." I climbed over him and started getting dressed.

"I'll be out in a sec." I called to Rick before I turned my attention to where Daryl still laid on the bed with one arm behind his head while biting the fingernails on his other hand. "I'll be right back." I promised as I pulled on my jeans. When I was done getting dressed I kissed him on his forehead then slipped out of the curtain. Rick was waiting a few feet away so I walked over to meet him. "Hey, what's up?"

"Carl and Michonne are coming with me to track down some guns. I'd be more comfortable if you came with us. I still don't fully trust her. I would ask Daryl to come, but I need him here to watch his brother and you know Michonne."

"Yeah, sure. Are we leaving now?" I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest and he nodded. "Okay, I'll meet you down stairs then." I told him and he nodded before I ducked back into Daryl's cell.

"So you're goin' with him?" Daryl asked still laying on his bed with his arm tucked behind his head.

"Him, Michonne and Carl." I drawled as I sat down on the bed next to him and he sat up to be eye level with me. "Is that okay?"

He bit his lip and nodded once. "Yep."

"You sure?" I asked.

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my lips. "Don't let Rick get you into too much trouble."

I just smiled into the kiss before I stood up and grabbed my pistol off of the small table in the room then headed down stairs to meet Rick. When Carl saw me head over to where he and his father stood he shook his head and rolled his eyes. I ignored him for the moment.

Rick let Michonne drive and sat upfront with her while I got stuck in the back with Carl. Along the way we saw a survivor, running along the road, screaming for help. We ignored him and kept driving. Then things got interesting when Michonne tried to drive around an overturned mac truck and ended up getting stuck. Carl didn't seem too enthused that we had gotten stuck. "We wouldn't have to do this if she didn't get us stuck." I heard Carl complain as his father taught him how to get traction when you're stuck in the mud.

"It was an honest mistake." Rick defended.

"Why did you let them come. Joanna's not a good person. She got between you and mom. Michonne took you to Woodbury and you said she just split on you. And Oscar died and you guys-" Carl started, but Rick cut him off.

"It wasn't that simple. I asked them to come today. I didn't want to leave Michonne at the prison if I wasn't there, not with Merle. Joanna knows her best so I asked her to come to because I trust her. That and we've all got common interest. For right now, we have the same problems. So maybe we can work on them together."

"Just for Right now?" Carl asked.

"Yeah, just for right now." Rick agreed.

I saw Michonne glare in their direction and roll her eyes. "Don't worry." I sighed and I leaned forward onto the center console that sat between the two from seats. "Carl doesn't like me much either, but Rick'll let us stay though."

"I get why the kid doesn't like me, but what did you do to piss him off?" Michonne asked in her usual tone.

"He thinks I broke up his parents." I said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Didn't you?" she asked with a sideways glance at me.

"No, but I certainly didn't help the situation." I said and she just shook her head at me. She had opened her mouth to say something to me when we heard the man from before yelling for us not to leave him. Rick banged on the hood of the car signaling that they were done with the tire and we could leave. So Michonne cranked the car, the guys got in and we left.

After a good while of driving we came to a stop just outside of town. As we walked, to the police station, I noticed a green arrow drawn on the wall outside as if to tell us to keep going, but we went to the police station anyway. As we walked in I looked around, nostalgia slammed into me like a speeding brick wall. "God, this brings up memories." I sighed quietly were I walked beside Rick. "Wonder if the pilot light is still on." Rick just smiled at me as we headed down to the storage locker.

My happy nostalgic attitude faded as soon as we stepped into the room and noticed that lack of weapons. Someone had cleaned out the place. Rick kicked the wall and ran his hands through his hair in aggravation. Michonne picked up a stray bullet and looked at it. "You got any other police stations in town?" she asked.

"I _was_ the police here." Rick said turning to look at her then me. "Me and a few other guys. It ain't a big town." Rick and I just looked at each other for a second before he sighed and rubbed at his forehead. "There's other places to check. They may not have a many guns as we had here, but-"

"We need as many guns as were in here." Michonne interrupted him and he turned his eyes to her turned back. "Ammo too."

"Yeah, but right now I only got a line on a couple." Rick shook his head then looked at Carl then me. "There's a few places out on main street, bars, a liquor store. The owners had a gun or two behind the counter that people didn't know about. I did. I signed the permits. They might still be there."

"Then let's go." I said with a motion to the door out, but I got ignored.

"Do you have a problem to that approach?" Rick asked and Michonne finally looked at him.

"No, Rick, I don't have a problem." it was one of the few times that she spoke softly. Usually she was super opinionated. Or at least she had always been that way with Andrea and me.

She handed him the bullet and after a second he took it and Michonne walked out. "I keep telling you she's with us. Just give her a break and trust her." I told Rick. Carl rolled his eyes and snorted. "I know you don't like me, so why don't we clear the air right here and now?" I asked Carl who just looked at his dad. Rick waved his hand for us to talk.

"You're right, I don't like you." Carl answered. "You're not a part of our group. You only think about yourself."

"Was I only thinking about myself when I helped look for Sophia?" I asked.

"You were only thinking about yourself when you fucked my father behind my mother's back"

"Carl!" Rick snapped at his son. "Apologize, right now." Carl just walked off. "I don't think right now is the time to have this fight." Rick said as he turned from watching his son walk out the door to look at me. "You alright?" he asked seeing the redness in my eyes and the unshed tears that watered them.

"I hate knowing that he hates me." Rick cupped my cheek in his hand.

"He won't hate you for forever." he rubbed my cheekbone before he dropped his hand and nodded for the door. He followed me out.

* * *

As we made our way through town we started seeing more signs. The first major one was painted in red on a brick wall and said "Away with you". We paused for a moment to see a burned pile of bodies on the other side of the wall. But we didn't heed the warnings and instead followed the yellow arrows that were painted on the sidewalk. When we came to the corner of an intersection we all stopped and hid along the wall as Rick peeked around the corner. He waved at us giving us the go ahead to follow him. As I rounded the corner what I saw made my stomach cringe. Tables were set up with spikes to catch walkers along with barbed wire set up to stop the walkers that didn't get stopped by the spikes.

"What is it?" Michonne asked no one in particular.

"I don't know." Rick whispered back.

We stopped walking when we came to a cross walk if a message written across it. "Turn around and live" it warned in more red paint. We didn't listen thinking it was something old that no longer stood. As I looked over the maze of spike tables and barbed wire my eyes landed on a flag that said "just listen" too bad we weren't smart enough to listen.

"It looks like someone's already made this theirs." Michonne spoke up as we came across live birds in cages.

"Doesn't mean they found what we're looking for." Rick replied. "A couple of the places are just up ahead. Let's get in and get the hell out of here." he ducked under one of the strands of barbed wire and we followed suit. "There. Tyrell's. A shotgun and two hand guns. License issued to Tybrell Debbs." We all turned when we heard a walker following us. Michonne moved to take it down but Rick stopped her. "Wait, she'll get caught."

We were watching the walker get caught in the barbed wire when a shot rang out and the walker's head exploded. We followed the shot to see a man standing on the roof of a building across the street. "Hands!" the man's voice was muffled because of the mask he wore, but we could still see him. "Now you drop what you've got and you go! You're guns, your shoes, and that sword! All of it. Ten seconds!"

"Run for the car, now." Rick told us as the man started counting down.

"Dad." Carl protested.

"We need that rifle." Michonne spoke up. I didn't say a thing, I was too busy making my lungs push air in and out. "I think I can get up there."

"Seven! Six!"

"Carl, Joanna, go." Rick said and as soon as I saw Rick raise his gun I ran. But I didn't head to the car. Instead I hid behind a black Ford pickup. Before long Rick was at my side "I told you to head to the car." he scolded me out of breath. When he look at my face he probably saw that I was on the verge of a panic attack. "Don't do that now." he demanded.

"Shut up. I'm fine." I practically spat at him. He just nodded before he stood up to shoot at the guy on the roof, but he paused and I eased my nose over the edge of the truck to see that he was gone and Michonne stood where the man had been. She shrugged her shoulders at us. I started to stand up, but that's when the guy came out of nowhere, now on the ground, and started shooting at us again.

"Stay here." Rick demanded then moved to kneel behind a couple of barrels. I did as told and stayed put while Rick lured the guy away. Rick was about to shoot the man when Carl came out from behind one of the buildings and shot the man in the chest. Rick, Michonne and Carl stood near the guy so I assumed that we were safe for now and came out of hiding. Rick bent down and hit the man on the chest to find that it was hard. "He's wearing body armor." he moved the armor to the side to see that a huge bruise had formed on his side, under where the bullet hit him. "He's alive."

"Do we care?" Michonne asked.

Rick removed the man's mask and when my eyes landed on the dark complected man I gasped. "Morgan?" Michonne looked at me questioningly.

"Yeah." Rick sighed then looked up at me. we were both stunned.


	18. Chapter 18: Preparations Part 2

**The Revelation of the Other Woman**

 **Chapter 18:** Preparations Part 2.

After some debate we decided to bring Morgan inside. So Michonne and Rick grabbed Morgan and Carl and I followed. We were heading up the stairs when Michonne said something and they stopped for a second then continued up. "Watch the wire you two." Rick called down to us and we saw a trip wire going across one of the stairs. Once in the room at the top we saw what looked like an over stocked armory. Guns lay in crates, along the walls on the floor. Boxes of food sat here and there. One green crate held nothing but grenades. "I showed him that weapons locker last year."

"And it didn't even have half of this in it. He's been busy." I said taking in the words that were written in different colors of chalk on the walls while Rick and Michonne laid Morgan on the cot that was in the room. Carl started packing ammo and guns.

As I looked around, Duane's name written on the wall caught my attention. "Rick." I said then pointed at the red words on the wall. "Duane turned."

Rick sighed."No." he turned to us. "We're gonna wait for him to wake up. Make sure he's okay."

"He tried to kill us" Michonne argued.

"He told us to go he didn't know who we were." Rick argued back.

"He tried to kill us and we didn't leave him for the walkers. He's had a good day." Michonne said. "He doesn't need half of these guns. We do."

Rick looked at me and I looked at Michonne then him and shrugged letting them know I didn't have an opinion one way or the other. "We're waiting for him to wake up. That's it."

"Have either of you taken a look around this place? The axe, the spikes, the walls?" Michonne asked us.

"You think he's crazy?" Rick asked defensively.

"No. I think he's dangerous." Michonne reasoned.

"Look, Michonne, I know what you're thinking and I know your right, but this man did us a favor and he's about to do us another rather he wants to or not. Rick and I need to talk to him, let him know we're still alive. We owe it to him." Michonne just glared at me then waved her hand telling us to go ahead because it was two against one and she knew she's already lost this fight.

Rick gave me a nod in thanks before he grabbed some zip ties and cuffed Morgan incase he really did happen to be crazy. When he was done he noticed Carl looking at the wall. It turned out that it was his old neighborhood. "I'm going on a run." Carl announced and Rick asked where to. "I thought maybe the only thing people didn't loot was cribs and there's that baby place that mom's friend Sarah ran. It's just around the corner."

"Carl." Rick sighed from where he had sat down.

"Dad, it's just around the corner. And there's all those walker traps." Carl argued.

"You're going to need some help carrying the box." Michonne spoke up.

"What?" Carl asked.

"If you're going to get a crib you have to get the box. It's big and heavy. You're gonna need help carrying the box." Michonne explained while crunching on stolen food. "You are getting a crib right?"

"That's what I said." Carl nodded.

"Then I'll go with him." Michonne told Rick with a look over her shoulder at him.

"Right there, that's the deal." Rick said standing up. "You get into trouble you holler, okay? We'll hear it from here."

Carl nodded. "Okay." he headed out and Michonne followed.

After a few seconds Rick sat back down and I sat down on the floor next to him. "You know he's not just going for a crib, right?" I asked and Rick nodded. "He'll be okay. Michonne won't let anything happen to him."

"I know." he sighed and leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. "Are you really happy with Daryl?" he asked surprising me by changing the subject to me and Daryl when there were more pressing matters at hand.

"Very." I answered honestly.

"As nice as it is having you back, it was nice when you were gone." I felt my brows draw together, my question as to how he could say something like that to me, written all over my face. "I didn't have to be jealous of him. I didn't have a rival, I had a friend. With you back… Even thought things have changed I'm still jealous of him."

I felt my chest tighten and I had to force air into my lungs. "Rick." I sighed squeezing my eyes shut. He placed his hand on my face and I placed mine over his. But when I opened my eyes I took it off of my face and put it back on his knee. "I'm with Daryl now. You've had all winter to come to terms with how things ended between us. And-"

"And I still don't like how it ended. I had accepted that you're with Daryl now. But then I heard you laughing with him this morning and I realized… I never got over you." his face was full of sadness and he reached out to touch my face again, but I sighed and grabbed his hand to place it back onto his knee again.

"Stop it." I told him as I stood up and turned my back on him. I heard him stand and I had to take another deep, jagged breath to keep myself calm. How could he be talking like this? Was this some kind of regression because of losing Lori? Was he trying to use me to replace her? "You just lost Lori. Now The Governor is on our asses. You're head isn't in a good place right now. This is not you talking. It's your stress."

"No, it you and what you do to me every time I'm around you." he turned me around to face him. "You feel something for me too. I see it all over your face." I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't make words come out. My jaw quivered before I closed my mouth and bit my lips shut. "Tell me you don't love me."

Truth was… I did love Rick. But it wasn't the same type of love that I felt for Daryl. It was different. It was a wild chaotic love. One that felt wrong no matter the time or place. Back on the farm he was with Lori. Now at the prison I'm with Daryl. The fates were against us. We weren't meant for each other. I shook my head as if to sling out the clouds as I pushed his hand off of my shoulder. "I love Daryl." I whispered.

"Tell me _you don't love me_." he said again taking a step closer to me.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head slightly. "I'm in love with Daryl."

"All you have to do is say it." he grabbed my hips. "I don't love you." he told me again what to say.

" _I love Daryl_." I told him, forcing each word out of my quivering lips before I finally opened my eyes.

"Why are those three words so hard for you to say?" he asked and I just stared at him. "You've never been a liar. Is that why you can't say that you don't love me?" he pulled me into him and grabbed the back of my neck so fast that I couldn't stop the kiss that followed. His lips… So strange. So not what I was used to, yet still familiar and brain fogging none the less. But I forced the fog back and shoved him off of me before I fell too far into the kiss to turn back.

Rick fell backwards and a pair of dark complected arms wrapped around his neck from behind. I gasped and Rick threw his head back hitting Morgan in the nose causing him to stumble back and fall onto his butt.

"Do you know who we are? Do you see who we are?" Rick asked towering over him while I stared in shock.

"People wearing dead people's faces." Morgan answered.

"Morgan, listen to me." Rick tried.

"No I don't know you! I don't know you!"

"You do know me!" Rick yelled back.

"I don't know you!" Morgan yelled and came at Rick with a knife, but Rick grabbed him and pinned him to the wall.

"You helped us Morgan. You know me. Look at me." Rick tried to reason with him, but it wasn't working.

Morgan punched Rick making him fall to the floor. I stared in shock at Morgan straddling Rick aiming the knife in his fist at Rick's chest. "You don't clear man." Morgan said and I knew I had to do something to save Rick. So I tackled Morgan. Stupid move because the knife that was aimed at Rick ended up getting stabbed into my shoulder just under my collar bone. I screamed out in pain and fell to the floor, letting Morgan go.

Morgan backed up to the wall. "You crazy son of a bitch!" Rick yelled pointing a gun at Morgan's head.

Morgan grabbed the gun and pulled it closer. "Please. Please kill me." Rick pulled the gun away and backed up. He glanced at me where I sat holding a blood soaked hand to my shoulder. He punched Morgan, knocking him out before he zip tied his hands together again then dragged him to the center of the room where he couldn't grab anything to cut his ties with.

"I had it under control." Rick scolded me as he started looking for bandages.

"He was going to stab you." I told him through my tears of pain. "I had to do something."

"You shouldn't have done anything." he said as he walked over to me and knelt down with a roll of bandage in his hand. "Shirt off." he said looking at the bloody hole in my shirt. I just glared up at him. "I can't bandage it with it on."

"Rip the sleeve off." I told him and he sighed as if I were being ridiculous. Instead of doing as I asked and just ripping the sleeve off he used the same knife that cut me to cut a slit from sleeve to neck line so that my chest didn't show, but he had access to everything on my shoulder that he needed to see.

I tried my best to say quiet as he kept pressure on the wound with one hand and cleaned the surrounding area with a wet wash cloth. "You're being surprisingly calm right now. I thought you would've had an attack by now."

"I'm not made of glass, Rick." I spat out then gasped as he put more pressure on the open gash then removed the wad of cloth to put a gauze pad over it. He used the roll of bandage to keep the pad in place.

He was almost done taping it in place, when Morgan woke up and started crying. It was weird hearing a grown man cry. Rick finished up the bandage and secured it in place before he started talking to Morgan. "Just kill me. Just...kill me." he repeated over and over again.

"You found us last year. In my front yard, Morgan." Rick told him. "You and-" he cut himself off remembering that Duane was dead. "You found us. You fed us. You explained again what's happening. You saved us." he stood up and turned to face Morgan. "My name is Rick Grimes and she is Joanna Jacobs. You know us. I'm not wearing a dead man's face." Rick walked over to Morgan and picked up the hand radio. "I gave you this. I said I'd turn it on everyday at dawn so you could find us."

Morgan's eyes got clearer as he finally realized it really was Rick and me. "Rick?" he asked looking only at Rick. "I know you. Oh man, damn it. I... I know you. I know who you are. You said you'd turn yours on at dawn. That's what you said." Morgan nodded and looked down at the radio in Rick's hand. "I mean I hadn't worked up to it yet, and-" he paused and looked up at Rick, "Then I did. On the roof every morning for, for days. For weeks me and my boy. And then...Me. Just static though, just static and then nothing but nothing. You weren't there. You were never there."

"I was." Rick answered.

"No, not when I tried." Morgan argued. "I mean you said you would turn on your radio every day at dawn. You said that you would turn on your radio every day at dawn-!"

"I did!" Rick shouted over Morgan.

"and you were not there!" Morgan yelled at the top of his lungs.

Rick pressed a shaky hand to his forehead as I walked over and place my right hand on his shoulder. He didn't even glance up at me. "I kept getting pushed further out." Rick said before he brushed my hand off and stood up. "I had to. I didn't have a choice." he walked a little bit away from us before he turned back toward us to look at Morgan's back. "I found my wife and my boy. I had people. I...I had to keep them safe. We kept getting pushed back deeper into the country. I swear to god I didn't have a choice." Rick was verging on tears.

Morgan kicked the radio at Rick. "You can have your radio back, 'cause it looks like I finally found you."

I cleared my throat getting Rick's attention. "I, uh, need a bit of fresh air. I'll just be outside."

"Watch the wire on the way down." Rick warned. I gave him a smart assed salute before I headed out.

While I was downstairs I found a small box of safety pins and pinned my shirt back into place. Also while moseying around I spotted a brand new crossbow and a stock of arrows so I grabbed them knowing Daryl would like them. It wasn't too much longer when Rick came down with four bags of guns and ammo. I had taken one from him when Michonne and Carl showed up carrying a half broken down pack and play.

I had put my finds in the car and gotten when. Rick and Carl were putting everything in the car when Rick asked how things went with Michonne. "I think she might be one of us."

"What?" Rick asked and I could hear the surprise in his voice.

"Everything went okay." Carl replied then got in the car next to me in the back seat.

We had been driving for a while when I turned to Carl to see him glaring out of the window. "Carl, I know you blame me for what happened to your mother." I started and he turned to glare at me. "And I also know that you will probably never forgive me for what I did. Regardless of circumstances, it was wrong and never should've happened. I just wanted you to know that I am _incredibly_ sorry." I turned my eyes to look at Rick in the rear view mirror. "I would take it all back if I could."

When I looked back at Carl he just rolled his eyes and looked back out the window. Rick turned in his seat to look at me with that look in his eyes, the one that I'd only ever seen him give to me. I just shrugged and turned my head to look out the window. I hated that look. It meant that he didn't get my point and still thought that I still had feelings for him That he still had feelings for me. I was with Daryl now. I was happy. I Didn't like how I Felt when I was with Rick. With Rick it was like smoking cigarettes. Even if you only smoke them every once in a while, when your around someone smoking one the craving kicks in. Even though you know they're bad for you, you still want one. I hated it. He made me feel like a horrible person. So I would just have to try harder to not be alone with him. Especially since he was convinced that I wanted him too. Sometimes I wished I was better at lying.

* * *

When we arrived back at the prison Daryl, Glenn and Carol met us outside. They each grabbed a bag of guns and ammo while I helped Carl carry the pack and play. After we all got inside and settled down Daryl noticed the blood stain on my pinned together shirt. "That your blood?" he asked and I nodded, too tired and emotionally drained to answer with words. "Ya bit?" I noticed that as soon as I shook my head no, his tense shoulders relaxed. "I thought I told ya not to let Rick get you into too much trouble." He joked as he reached out and touched my cheek. His joke made my eyes shoot over to Rick. I wanted to tell him that Rick was exactly why I got stabbed. "What happened" he asked quietly and my eyes once again shot over to Rick. I didn't see Daryl squint as us in suspicion.

"We ran into Morgan." Rick answered.

"The guy that you said helped you two after you left the hospital?" Daryl asked and Rick nodded.

"He went crazy after his son turned. He didn't even remember us." I added to the story.

"Get to the part where you got hurt." Daryl growled and I looked at Rick again.

"He was trying to stab me. Joanna tackled him and he got her instead." Rick answered. Daryl scoffed and I looked up at him to see that his downcast eyes looked pissed.

"Do I need to take a look at it?" Hershel asked as he hobbled over on his crutches.

"No, it's fine. It wasn't very deep." I answered.

"She needs stitches." Rick said as he walked by to sit at the table closest to us.

I crinkled my nose at the thought of getting stitches without numbing the area first. "Let him look at it." Daryl told me with a nod and a nudge to Hershel. I sat down and Hershel sat across from me then started taking the pins from my shirt. He was undoing the bandage when I looked up at Daryl to see him shake his head and walk off. Had I done something wrong?

"Rick is right, you need stitches." Hershel grunted then jerked his head at Beth who ran off to get his medical bag. When she returned with it he grabbed the needle and thread. "You ready?" he asked and I nodded. I hissed at the burn of the needle piercing my skin and squeezed the edge of the table as hard as I could. "Find a happy place and go there for a while." Hershel suggested. So I closed my eyes and pictured myself in bed with Daryl.

It was kind of peaceful until the needle pierced my skin again and ripped me from my happy thoughts. "Yeah, that didn't work." I grunted out through clenched teeth. All I wanted in that moment was Daryl to hold my hand, but he was nowhere to be seen.

After Hershel was done with my stitches I looked in our cell for Daryl, but he wasn't there. So I sought out Carol. "Hey have you seen Daryl?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Think he said something about checking the tombs."

So that's where I headed. I didn't have to venture to far before I found him sitting on the floor in the hallway leaning against the wall, slamming the tip of an arrow into the concrete. "That'll make it dull you know." I said to get his attention, but he just grunted at me. So I sat down in the middle of the hallway facing him. "Did I do something wrong?" I asked meekly.

"You're damn right you did something wrong!" he slammed the arrow into the floor again breakint it before he practically flew off of the floor to tower over me. I blinked back tears and leaned back on my hands, stunned at his outburst. "Ya almost got yourself killed! For him!" he flung his hand at the direction I had come from.

I tried my best to hold back tears, but one escaped and slipped down my right cheek. "I'm sorry." I was all I could say, but it seemed to anger him more.

"Ya care about him so much that you would throw yourself under a knife for him?!" he yelled, pacing back and forth in the small hallway. "I should've known you still have feelings for him."

The more he yelled at me the more the shock of him yelling at me faded and meekness turned to anger. "So what would you have me do?" I asked as I stood up and made myself look as tall as I could. "Huh? You would have me stand idly by and just watch as one man kills another? You would want me to watch as our friend gets stabbed in the chest!?" my chest heaved with anger as we just stared at each other, both writhing with anger at the other. "Jealousy is a hell of an emotion, Daryl." I sighed when he didn't say anything. "You don't wear it well." I turned to leave him, but he grabbed my uninjured shoulder and pulled me back around. My chest heaved as I stared up into his eyes. He had never been so rough with me before and it scared me.

"You're pissin' me off with your little fuckin' angel eyes you know that?" he asked and I didn't know what to say back. So I just stared up at him like an idiot. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but instead he said "Goodnight." then tossed the broken arrow to the side as he walked around me and out of the tombs.

I didn't go back to our cell where I figured he would be. Instead I took a seat at one of the tables in the holding room and laid my head down on my folded arms. I had almost drifted off to sleep when I felt someone touch my shoulder. "Why are you sleeping in here?" Rick asked with his hand still on me.

"Daryl's mad at me. Probably mad at you too." I sighed not picking my head up from my arms.

"Why?" he asked as he sat down next to me and I realized I was alone with Rick. So I stood up and headed for the cell block.

"Ask him." I called before I disappeared from his sight and into the cell block. It was probably a bad idea, pointing him in Daryl's direction. I doubted Rick would even seek him out, but I didn't care. I was tired of their bullshit and just tired in general. So I went to my old cell and eventually fell asleep on the top bunk.


	19. Chapter 19: Hanging Back

**The revelation of the other Woman**

 **Chapter 19:** Hanging Back Doesn't Sit Well With Me.

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder and looked up to see that it was Daryl. "Come on. Rick wants everyone to gather in the holding room." He told me bluntly then walked off.

So we all listened while Rick told us what was going to happen today. Rick, Daryl and Hershel were going to meet up with The Governor at a feed store down the road. Then Rick proceeded to tell us what he planned to accomplish with this meeting. Throughout the whole lecture Daryl never even looked at me. I wished he would just talk to me, but how was I supposed to get him to talk to me when I couldn't even get him to look at me?

When the meeting of our group disbanded I followed Daryl to his cell. "What do you want?" Daryl asked coldly.

"There's something I need to tell you before you go meet The Governor. Before you possibly go get yourself killed." I told him and he turned around to glare at me. "Rick kissed me yesterday." I felt my chest tightening but forced myself to breathe.

"I bet you just melted is his fuckin' arms. Didn't you?" he asked with a growl while he pointed at my face. His attitude made me want to cower away from him.

But I was trying to do the right thing by telling him the truth. So I stood my ground. "No. I pushed him off of me. I didn't know Morgan had snuck up behind him, but I pushed him right into Morgan's choke hold."

Daryl just scoffed and grabbed his crossbow off of his bed. "I got places to be." he threw the crossbow over his shoulder as he walked out of the cell.

"Y'all aren't leaving for another fifteen minutes. Will you just talk to me please?" I called out to his retreating back.

He stopped for a second then turned to face me. "You want me to talk?" he asked walking back to me. "Fine I'll talk." He said while nodding sarcastically at me. "I could tell something happened between you two the second you walked through that door. It was written all over your face." All I could do was blink up at him. "He must have said something before he kissed you. What did he say?" he asked walking around me back into his cell.

"Why are you asking that?" I asked, confused.

"I'm just tryin' to wrap my mind around this. Tryin' to figure out what made him think it was alright to kiss you." he said as he twirled his finger next to his head "So what did you talk about?" he asked louder as he paced around the room.

"Out of the blue he asked me if I was happy with you." I started from the beginning. When I paused Daryl motioned for me to keep talking. "I told him I was very happy with you. Then he said that he liked it better when I was gone because without me in the picture you two could be friends. Now that I'm back you're rivals again." Daryl pulled a pack of cigarettes out of the pocket of his shirt and pulled one out. "Then he started talking about how jealous he is of you and how he hates that you're the one that makes me laugh. Giggle is the word he used." He put the cigarette between his lips and flicked open his lighter. "He put his hand on my cheek. I moved it away he did it again and I walked away. I told him to stop talking like that because it wasn't him talking. It was the nostalgia of us being back at the police station together on top of losing Lori making him not think straight. But he wouldn't stop. He just kept telling me to tell him that I didn't love him." Daryl took a long drag off the glowing cancer stick in his hand and blew the smoke out of the corner of his mouth to keep it from going in my face.

Even in the middle of arguing I found that action incredibly attractive. "Did you tell him you don't love him?" he asked surprisingly calm.

"I told him several different times that I'm in love with you." I answered.

"But did you tell him that you don't love him?" he asked again then took another drag from the cigarette.

I shook my head in confusion. "What? No."

"Why couldn't you just say that you don't love him?" he asked then blew the smoke out of the corner of his lips again.

He was driving me all kinds of crazy at the moment. Pissing me off and turning me on with that damn cigarette all at the same time. "Because I do love him." the words flew from my lips before I could stop them. I stood there staring at him with wide eyes, shocked at what I had just told him. "Just not the same way I love you." I admitted as my eyes fell to the floor.

He dropped the cigarette to the floor. "Glad we cleared that up." he stomped on the still smoking stick then walked out of the cell. This time I didn't stop him. I just let him go because there was nothing more left for me to say and he was clearly done talking to me.

* * *

I kept to myself for most of the day. That was until I heard arguing going on downstairs followed by a gunshot. I took off to where the noise had come from, the holding room. "Let me go! Let me Go!" Merle yelled, Glenn clearly having been in a scuffle with him a few seconds prior to my arrival.

"What the hell's goin' on in here?" I asked no one in particular.

"You're a little late to the party." Beth said with a look over her shoulder at me. "I took care of it." she gave me a smart ass smirk. "You can go back to brooding over your boy troubles now."

"You're really judgmental for a kid who has no working knowledge of the real world." I said dismissively before I went back to my cell.

I didn't come out again until I heard Daryl's motorcycle approaching the prison. I didn't run out to greet him like I wanted to. I just walked out onto the perch and watched from above as everyone gathered in the cellblock to hear what Rick had to say. "So I met this governor, sat with him for quite a while." Rick started.

"Just the two of you?" Merle asked.

"Yeah." Rick answered with a nod.

"Should've gone when we had the chance, bro." Merle told Glenn as he walked by him and away from the group. I didn't know what he was talking about exactly, but I figured it has something to do with the argument they got into.

"He wants the prison. He wants us gone." Rick continued, but I wasn't looking at him. I was looking at Daryl where he leaned against the wall under one of the barred windows. He glanced up at me for only a second before he turned his glaring eyes back at Rick. "Dead. He wants us dead for what we did to Woodburry." he paused and the room was dead quiet for a few seconds before he said, "We're going to war." and walked off.

People exchanged glances before they dispersed. Daryl nodded at his brother before he started up the stairs. I went to my cell before he could get to me. Once in my cell I pressed my back against the wall and sighed. My love life was a mess as usual and now on top of all the shit going on in the prison we were going to go to war with another town. The Governor could attack tomorrow and we could all die. If I died tomorrow I didn't want things between Daryl and me to end on a bad note. So when my eyes fell onto the shiny new crossbow that I had grabbed for Daryl I knew it was time I gave it to him.

So I scooped it up along with a stash of arrows then slung the crossbow strap over my shoulder and headed for his cell, but when I walked out of my cell door I slammed into someone. I didn't have to look up to know that it was Daryl. "Hi." I told him without looking up.

He hooked his finger under my chin making me look at him. "Hi." He answered back quietly. I took a step back. "What's that?" he asked nodding to the bow still hanging on my shoulder.

"I would think you of all people would know a crossbow when you saw one." I quipped and he smirked. "It's a gift I got for you from Morgan's place." I told him as I took it off and handed it to him. "I was trying to wait for a special time to give it to you." he took the bow from me but didn't put it over his shoulder like I expected. He walked around me into my cell. "But I figured if we're going to war, you'll need it now." I said as I followed him inside. He set it on my top bunk along with its arrows.

"Thank you, but a bow ain't what I need. Not right now." he said with a shake of his head as he walked closer to me where I stood in the doorway of my cell. My question was clear on my face. So I didn't even get the chance to ask what he needed now before he grabbed my arm and pulled me into him. He wrapped his arms around my waist, one hand resting on my ass, and looked down at me with a raised brow. I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around him and kiss him and just raised a brow of my own at him. "Come on, don't make me sound like a hallmark card." I just let a smile play at the corners of my lips. "Fine, I'm over the Rick drama. He can go fuck himself. You're mine." His last two words came out as a growl as he pulled me tighter into him and started kissing my neck. "And I need you." it amazed me how he could take something that made him sound so venerable and cheesy and make it sound sexy as hell.

I sighed and tilted my head to the side giving him better access to my neck. He kissed a trail from my shoulder to just below my ear. His actions had me completely relaxed until he stuck his tongue in my ear causing me to laugh and pull away. He laughed quietly and tried to do it again. "Daryl." I laughed his name as I pushed myself back to look into his eyes. This playfulness was a side of him I'd never seen before and I loved it.

"That's right, Baby." He said with a smile on his lips before he tried to lick my ear again but I laughed and pulled away. "Let 'im know you're happy with me." It suddenly felt like we were back on the farm again when we were just trying to make Rick jealous. "Let him know that I'm the only man who can make you laugh like this." he went for my ear again but I moved my head fast enough that he got my lips instead. He kissed me for a second then pulled back and started tickling me.

"Daryl." I laughed as I squirmed in his grasp. "Stop it."

"Yeah, Daryl, stop it before we all throw up." We heard Carol say unenthusiastically as she stopped to stand in the doorway. Daryl turned to look at her and I hugged him from behind then moved under his arm to stand at his side with his arm draped over my shoulders. "Rick wants to talk to you." she said to Daryl.

He looked at me as if he were waiting for permission. I just shrugged. "Tell him I'm busy." He told her without looking at her then leaned down and started kissing me.

"Yeah, we all know you're busy. This place is like an amphitheater." She said and I could hear the hatred she had for me in her voice. "He still wants to talk to you."

"Then tell him I said to shove it." he said between kisses.

I pulled pack and placed my palms on each side of his face. "You should probably go talk to Rick. It might be important." I hated to put a damper on our fun, but now wasn't necessarily the time to be having such fun. There was also more that he and I needed to talk about before we went any further.

Daryl sighed and rested his head on my shoulder. "Fine, but I will be back to pick up where we left off." I winked and smiled at him before he walked out of the cell.

After Daryl walked off Carol remained outside my cell giving me a mean glare with her lips pursed. "You will never be good enough for him." she said and I just rolled my eyes. "He needs someone who has their shit together."

"Like you, right?" I asked sarcastically.

"At least I wouldn't string him along." She said before she walked away.

She left me there feeling like the most unwanted person in this group. Carol hated me, Beth hated me and my presence was putting Rick and Daryl at odds. If it wasn't for the fact that I would feel miserable without Daryl I would have snuck out then and there. But I couldn't abandon Daryl like that and the prison would need as many able body fighters as they could get. This was bigger than just me. The two women that hated me would just have to get over it.

I was sharpening my knife when Daryl came back into the cell. He just plopped down on the bed and kicked his feet up. "So what did Rick want to talk to you about?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Governor bullshit." He grunted then rolled over to hover over me. "So where did we leave off?" he asked then moved in to kiss me, but I place my finger over his lips stopping him. He sighed and let his head hang. "What?"

"I know you said you're over the Rick drama, but I told you that I love Rick and I'm having a hard time believing that you're cool with that….that you can just get over it."

He moved back around to sit with his back propped up on the wall. "I ain't cool with it." his tone almost sounded mocking. "But ya keep comin' back to me. I know there's a reason and ya ain't gotta tell me if ya don't want to."

"Do you want to know why I keep coming back to you?" I asked as I moved to straddle his lap. He placed his hands on my hips and nodded. "You make me feel…good. Like a good person. It feels right when I'm with you. I feel like I'm in control of myself. You keep me grounded." I said and he smiled a little. "I get to see sides of you that no one else does." I said and he blushed. "We make each other happy." I said with a smile. "Right?" I asked.

He nodded and pecked me on the lips before he answered "Right."

"But with Rick… I don't feel like me. I don't feel like myself or grounded or comfortable. It somehow feels…immoral."

He just stared at me for a minute. "Then why do you love him?" he asked in a serious yet curious voice.

"I don't know." I answered honestly. "All I know is my love for you is stronger." I answered as I rested my hands on each side of his neck and stared down at the black leather of his vest. "And I hope that's enough for you because I…" my voice caught in my throat and I had to stop to clear it, "I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you." I felt a tear slip down my cheek as he lifted my face to look at him.

He brushed it away with his thumb. "You'll always have me…always."

I laughed through my tears and stress making him smile at me with a hint of confusion on his face. "You make the cheesiest shit sound so sweet and sexy."

He laughed with me before I cut him off with a kiss. His hands instantly gripped my hips harder and pulled me in closer. My fingers fiddled with his hair as his hands slid up my back over my shirt then back down to slip under the fabric. I sighed and started kissing my way across his jaw line down to his neck where I started kissing and nibbling. I nibbled just above his left collarbone pulling a satisfied grunt from him. I kissed the spot a few more times before I nibbled again. It got the same grunt from him as before but this time he squirmed under me. "Ya gotta stop that woman." He grunted as he gripped my back, just below my shoulder blades.

I kissed my way up to his ear where I lightly bit his earlobe. "Why?" I asked before I kissed his neck just below his ear. "What am I doing?" I asked. Mischief was clear in my voice even to me.

"Ya know exactly what you're doin'." He said and when I pulled back to look at him his moonlit eyes sparkled. "My turn." He said quickly before he held onto my back tightly and flipped me around so that I was lying on my back on the bed. He hovered over me for a second just taking me in before he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.

He was now in control. Were my kisses had been soft, laid back and slow, his were passionate and verging on needy. This was what I loved about Daryl. He didn't have to talk to let me know how much he needed me. His actions did all of the talking.

-Later-

Daryl and I lay in bed covered by a thin sheet. My head rested on the bicep of the arm that he had wrapped around my shoulders. Every once in a while he would play with my hair that hung lose around my shoulder and splayed out on the pillow. I loved these moments. "Can we just stay like this forever?" I asked as I ran my fingers over the tattoo on his chest, tracing each black, cursive letter.

"It'd be nice." He grumbled sounding half asleep.

"You sleepy?" I asked as I glanced up at him.

"A little." He admitted even though I could tell he didn't want to go to sleep. I lifted up my head and rolled onto my stomach so that I could look at him without craning my neck. He brushed my hair out of my face. "I love ya, Joanna." He whispered.

I smiled a sleepy smile before I kissed him lightly on the lips. "I love you too, Daryl." I rolled back over and snuggled into his side. He wrapped his arm back around my shoulders and grabbed my hand that rested on his chest. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He yawned back and I smiled as my eyes slipped shut.

* * *

When I woke up the next day I was alone and when I walked outside I was immediately recruited by Michonne to start preparing the prison yard for attack. As the day went by I noticed Daryl and Rick avoiding me. Yes, we were all busying about doing this and that, but not even during breaks did either man talk to me. The one time I managed to talk to Daryl, he kept the conversation short and to the point. I got the eerie feeling that someone was keeping something from me and I was determined to figure out what it was.

In the afternoon when things started settling down I set out, determined to find either Rick or Daryl. Eventually I found Rick outside around the corner of the cell block we called ours. He had a blue phone cord wrapped around his wrist. His eyes were turned to the catwalk that led from one building to another. "You're not there." he said as he turned his eyes to the ground, not even aware that I was standing across from him, trying to figure out what he was talking about. "She's not there." he looked back up at the empty cat walk as if someone was standing up there. But when he said _She's_ not there, I know he must be talking about Lori.

He sighed and unwrapped the cord from his wrist then tossed it to the ground as he stood up. He froze when his eyes landed on me. "She's not up there, but I'm down here." He shook his head and pressed his finger tips to his eyes. "What's going on Rick?" I asked. "What are you and Daryl not telling me?"

"The Governor, he uh… He made me a deal." Rick stared and I found myself crossing my arms over my chest. "He told me that he would leave us alone…stand down, if I turned Michonne over to him."

"What!?" I asked, tears stinging the backs of my eyes as I realized what his intentions were with the telephone cord. "I can't believe you're even considering it!"

"I'm not goin' through with it." he said taking a step closer to me as he made a motion with his hand that told me I needed to calm down. "I can't. It's like Hershel said, it's not who we are." He stopped a few feet away from me.

I took a step back. "Who all knows about this?" I asked. "Does Daryl know?"

"Yes. I've only told Daryl, Hershel and Merle. Now you." he said and I just glared at him, shaking my head as it tried you wrap my mind around it all. "I was trying to think about the safety of the entire group." He tried to defend himself.

"And Michonne is part of that group." I said still glaring at him.

The first place I want was Michonne's cell, but she wasn't there. So from there I started looking for Daryl, I found him outside in the courtyard talking to Rick. "Hey, either of you seen Michonne recently?" I asked in a huff and they both shook their heads.

"I can't find Merle." Rick said and we all exchanged glances.

"Come on." Daryl said as he headed into the prison and Rick and I followed. He led us to a room in the tombs. "He was in here. Said he was lookin' for drugs." He said as we walked further inside and started looking around. "He said a lot of things, actually."

"Like what?" Rick asked before I could.

"Said that you were gonna change your mind." Daryl answered as we walked around a machine to see a bag lying on the floor. "Here we go." Daryl kneeled down and picked up the bag then tossed it back onto the floor. "Yeah, he took her here, they mixed it up." he said before he stood back up.

"Damn it!" Rick scoffed and headed out of the room to a door that led outside. "I'm goin' after him."

"You can't track for shit." Daryl countered.

"Then both of us." Rick said. Neither of them seemed to notice that I was even still in the room with them. For two people who I had always seen at odds with each other, they were working together pretty well now, when shit was hitting the fan. Was this what they were like when I wasn't a part of the group?

"Na, just me." Daryl said as he headed to the door ahead of Rick. "I said I'd go and I'll go."

"I'll go with you." I offered, reminding them that I was still tagging along.

"Na, you stay here where it's safe." Daryl told me before he kissed me quickly on the lips then turned his eyes to Rick. "Plus they're gonna come back here and you need to be ready." He glanced at me then back at Rick. "I'm trusting you to keep her safe." He said as he pressed his back to the door pushing it open. "Besides, you're family too." With that he rounded the corner and was gone.

"Last time he told me to stay where it's safe I ended up not seeing him again for eight months." I said, thinking out loud.

Rick just scoffed and shook his head.

Later that day Rick gathered everyone together and gave a speech. He told everyone else about the deal that the governor made him and told us that he isn't our Governor. We all had a say in what happens to us as a whole. It was our choice if we stayed and fought or fled. I already had my mind made up that I wanted to stay and fight for this place.

Michonne returned alone, neither Merle nor Daryl with her. She told us that Merle let her go and Daryl continued on looking for Merle. I wanted to go after him, but Michonne said that Daryl told her not to let anyone come looking from him, especially me. So I, after much internal debate, decided to respect his wishes and stayed put. As soon as I got word that Daryl was back I raced out to the court yard to greet him, but as soon as I saw his face, red and tear stained I knew Merle was no longer among the living. All I knew to do was wrap my arms around Daryl's neck and hug his close. He pressed his face into my neck and cried. I found myself shushing him like a baby and rubbing his back. Eventually he let me pull him to his cell where he cried himself to sleep on my chest.

 **A/N:** I'm sorry I haven't been updating this story more here lately. Having an 11 month old kind of puts a damper on my free time. lol.


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